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STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD
The diet of Paul Trappen in the early 1900s demonstrates how far removed from real food are the modern protein powders and gel packs. Once the strongest man in the world, Paul Trappen was reared on a farm in the Eifel, learned the butcher trade in Trier and had legendary strength. He held world records several years in a row and even won the senior world record in weight lifting.
He was capable of lifting two grown oxen. His personal best was lifting thirty-two persons, totaling almost five thousand pounds. He performed stunts like lifting parked cars out of the way or picking up three men with one arm.
He was a very active member of the sports community in Trier, which became known as the strong-man capital of Germany. He opened two restaurants where plenty of meats were served, like ham hocks, liver dumplings and ribs.
He liked to breakfast on two pounds of ground beef and ten eggs. Throughout the day he would consume more meaty fare. Sometimes he liked to drink spiced beef blood, but he generally preferred the local Moselle wines or ciders.
He married and had three children. His son went on to win several weightlifting records of his own.
A reminder of this legendary man is the “Trappen-burger, a very meaty concoction that gives incredible strength.” It is served in the Burgeramt in Trier, which proudly displays the poster of Paul Trappen lifting the oxen. For more information, visit trier.com/paul-trappen-einst-staerkster-mannder-welt/.
Anita Reusch
Chapter Leader, Eifel, Germany
MORE WHEAT DANGERS
I wish that the population would wake up and realize that wheat has been deliberately poisoned for decades. Organophosphate poisons such as malathion, pirimiphos-methyl and chlorpyrifos-methyl have been mixed with harvested wheat for many decades and for much of that time there has been no withholding time after treatment. I asked the regulators and the manufacturers why this use has been permitted, given that they warn against contaminating food.
How could it be that treated wheat and other grains could be eaten immediately after treatment, yet bags that had contained that same treated grain were deemed to be too dangerous to be used to store food?
Their answer was that their words had been taken out of context, but that is blatant nonsense. Even more nonsensical were the regulators’ claims that this was explained by the use of the poisons only in seed crops. Farmers have had loads of perfectly clean grain refused by millers unless they had received the poisoning treatment. This presumably occurs to save them the cost of insect control in their factories.
The EU insisted on protection from insect infestation for at least five years.
Furthermore the British Medical Association reported on the high residues in wholemeal bread and even in beer (Pesticides Chemicals and Health, 1992), this was the result of malting barley having been treated after harvest and before the malting process was begun.
The only successful UK High Court case for organophosphate poisoning was that of John Hill in 1997. He was poisoned while adding pirimiphos methyl to wheat. The authorities were quick to realize the danger but they have been denying the known dangers of the poisons ever since.
I was poisoned by an illegal mixture of these chemicals twenty-five years ago—even the manufacturers do not know the effects. These mixes are inevitable when grains treated with different chemicals are mixed and processed. Application methods inevitably lead to “hotspots” of massively overdosed grain.
I suspect that “gluten intolerance” is a direct result of the harm done by these poisons to vital enzymes in the body. By avoiding wheat, these poisons are also reduced in the diet. The poisons have long been linked to digestive problems.
Richard Bruce
Portsmouth, UK
READY FOR ROUNDUP?
Having waded through the great article on Roundup in the Winter 2016 edition of Wise Traditions by Stephanie Seneff, PhD, I’m yet again amazed at how harmful to our health so much of our technology has been. I say “waded,” since I don’t have the expertise to understand fully all of the terms used, this being one of the highly technical pieces that supply wisdom to Wise Traditions. While stepping lightly over many terms, I gleaned some very troubling news.
If, as covered, the active part of Roundup (glyphosate) causes a replacement in a portion of protein, especially affecting the collagen protein, many of us are in for some hard times. Per the article, collagen contaminated by glyphosate would likely also contaminate gelatin-based foods, which are “derived from the bones, joints and skin of pigs and cows. . . fed high doses of glyphosate in their GMO Roundup Ready corn and soy feed.”
Taking lots of supplements (gelatin capsules) for “health” (like me), swallowing prescription capsules, or consuming many of our processed foods (desserts, pudding, gummy bears, yogurts, etc.), may contribute to chronically painful joints, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, and more. The author beautifully lays out how this could happen.
Then we come to a highly heated topic, with vaccines being created using gelatin.
From a learned, scientific stance, hopefully Dr. Seneff can help us understand how we might detoxify from this problem that has proliferated throughout our lives.
I am soooo thankful to be following those who follow in Dr. Price’s footsteps. While they can’t magically make the world healthy for us all, we can at least heed their warnings and minimize how affected we are by toxins and unwise practices.
Janice McLain
Colorado Springs
Editor’s Response: It is always difficult for us to publish articles like these, as they create new fears about our food supply—especially as it seems that glyphosate is difficult to detect once it has bound to a protein or enzyme. But a key action we can all take is to insist that the broth we consume be made with bones from pasture-fed animals and (in the case of chicken or pork bones) that the feed be organic. We should also encourage manufacturers to use organic vegetable glycerine or gelatin from pastured animals. As for the many other commercial products that contain gelatin, there are many other good reasons to avoid these completely. Also, it is reasonable to assume that the nutrient-dense diet that we recommend will offer a certain amount of protection against small amounts of glyphosate in our food.
PEANUT POWDER?
I got a lot of value from your recent article on protein powders and how their processing renders them unhealthful for the consumers. At the time, I was eating a lot of pea flour which is being used a lot to “put muscle on” and “strengthen one’s body,” which my local health-food store had recommended to me. Even though I had eaten it for a month or two, I didn’t notice any change for the better—and had developed a huge case of Raynaud’s disease (which I’ve had for maybe most of my life—but not as bad as it had gotten recently!). So I put what remained of it in the compost and have not gotten any more since.
But I liked having something that I could just mix with water or some other liquid and spices to fill up on if I was still hungry after a meal (as my diet is very limited). In the grocery store yesterday, I spied peanut powder, which has been becoming very popular over the last few years. While it may well have been produced in the denaturing ways that you described for other protein powders, I got a small package and am cautiously trying it. Can you tell me about its safety? I suppose it has been produced like all the other similar powders that are bad for the body?
Carroll English
Stelle, Illinois
Editor’s Response: Processing renders the materials in protein powders harmful, but the main reason for avoiding them is the danger of too much protein in the diet—even natural proteins like meat or egg whites. In any event, we would warn against powders made from peanuts as we have no idea how they are produced. Much better to make your own nut butter by grinding crispy nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews or pecans) in the food processor and mixing in coconut oil and honey. It’s best to vary the nuts so you don’t develop allergies by eating too much of the same thing. Also, commercially produced peanuts are likely to be high in aflatoxins, pesticides, fumigants and other harmful components.
VACCINATION SCANDAL CONTINUED
Thank you to Sushama Gokhale in California for her letter on vaccinations (Winter 2017). The information was excellent. I would love to see more information get to expectant moms, so they can make informed choices. The CMSRI (Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute) has an Immunization Journal that is a great document to get to expectant moms. And a group called A Voice for Choice is trying to establish a branch to get information about vaccines to these moms.
Informed choice is the law of the land, and we should push this line harder to require balanced information, including ingredients and side effects, to expectant moms. It was a real sucker punch to me as a new mom for them to come into my hospital room and give my children the Hep B at two days old. It would be great if the book What to Expect When You Are Expecting would at least agree to include both sides of the argument, but pressure needs to be applied because so far the publisher has declined. Additionally, hospitals were requiring expectant moms to attend a presentation on the drugs used for C-section and/or pain relief post-birth. Why not require that session to include information about vaccination? Time to put pressure on. Enough is enough! Again, many thanks for the great letter.
Kristina Boudreaux
Sonoma County, California
BULLETPROOF?
I’m a fan of the Weston A. Price Foundation and try to live by the principles set forth by our ancestors. I eat a ketogenic diet, low-carb and high-fat, and also drink bone broth on a daily basis, eat only pastured meats and free-range eggs from my chickens, and organic veggies from my garden too—all the right stuff. I also enjoy grass-fed butter and grass-fed ghee on a daily basis.
Then I got some blood work done recently and found out my cholesterol is 389, with a ratio of 6.0, which is extremely high “bad” LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol! I’m only twenty-six, female, not overweight at all. I felt like I’m working so hard in the kitchen to eat! I was really stumped and scared. I thought saturated fats were good!
I think I then found out what caused the problem: the French press bulletproof coffee I was drinking! Cafestol is a compound in the oils of coffee that causes dramatic spikes in cholesterol in some people; it also causes HDL cholesterol to be transmuted into LDL cholesterol. French press coffee does not filter out cafestol, though regular paper coffee filters do filter it. So I was drinking cafestol-rich coffee with grass-fed butter, and my HDL was converted to LDL due to the effects of the cafestol.
Apparently I was in a lot of danger of having a heart attack after consuming bulletproof coffee made in the French press every morning for two years.
Looking back on my journal entries, I saw that I had written about an odd chest pain over the last few months, but assumed it must have been anxiety or something like that because I’m fit, athletic and dietarily conscious. I could have gotten really sick if I hadn’t randomly had my blood tested to see whether I could qualify for a life insurance investment. I assumed I was extremely healthy because I was eating all grass-fed, ketogenic and putting a lot of energy and time into preparing traditional meals.
The danger here is that fads like bulletproof coffee (especially when people are not educated about cafestol and French press filtration) don’t take into account special circumstances. Usually it’s just hype that gets everyone so excited. I never read or saw any information about people like me who have genetic sensitivity to cafestol. I didn’t even know it existed. I thought bulletproof coffee in the morning instead of breakfast was really healthy, but it almost killed me!
Kayleigh Jean
Portland, Oregon
We are glad you figured out what the problem was! Actually, the Weston A. Price Foundation does not recommend any type of coffee, especially as a substitute for breakfast! We also recommend including about one hundred grams of carbs per day.
PARADIGM SHIFT
I realized yesterday morning as I was listening to Chris Kresser’s podcast on anxiety that I have made a huge paradigm shift in my thoughts on how to treat illness. As I go along on my morning commutes I look forward to my time to listen to the latest health podcasts: Wise Traditions podcast on Monday and whatever else is available the rest of the week. I’m a junkie for nutrition books, blogs and podcasts. Chris Kresser is one of my favorites. However this morning his voice was like the parents in Charlie Brown (wbuahahwbuah). I completely tuned him out, because I already knew the answer of how to treat anxiety and depression and it doesn’t matter why or what causes it. Not only do I know the treatment, I’ve seen it work in less than four days and for about five dollars for one friend. I had also seen this same remedy get a crying anxious child off the couch and perfectly happy in about ten minutes.
What is this magic? It’s practical homeopathy as taught by Joette Calabrese—it’s a game changer! No longer do we need to scratch our head and wonder why this person is sick nor recommend people spend money on labs or see a functional medicine doctor that most can’t afford. All I need to help most of my friends and family is the Wise Traditions diet and practical homeopathy.
I have successfully “cured” a spine surgeon whose neck was so bad that he was going to get a procedure done. Once I gave him the right remedy in the right potency (took two tries to get the right potency), he was 70 percent better in about ten minutes. When I checked in with his wife a month later, she reported that I had “cured” him. I’ve helped a young girl with hives who had to wear a costume that caused the hives, a teenager with debilitating stomach pain (she was better in five minutes), several people with neck pain, plus a variety of ailments in my own family. The results are miraculous and fast.
There are protocols for pretty much every illness: asthma, allergies, cancer, tennis elbow, depression, eczema, and so on. Not all can be treated by Dr. Mom, but many can.
The Banerjis in India started this “revolution” by using the homeopathic medicines in a completely different way, and Joette is teaching this to all who want to learn. They treat the symptoms and the diagnosis not the person. This is not classical homeopathy. To me, it is so different from classical homeopathy that I wish it had a different name and didn’t use the word “homeopathy” at all.
Here is an example to illustrate how simple and elegant this is: if you get gas and bloating from eating dairy, you treat the gas and bloating with one remedy and the allergy to dairy with another. You don’t need to test for leaky gut, SIBO or other food allergies. You just take the homeopathic medicine for the two Banerji protocols until you’re better. In some cases you could be better within a day or two or more likely a couple months. I’ve had two people have immediate relief from gas and bloating pain from taking one dose of one ten-dollar remedy.
Twelve years ago when I read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation, I thought…finally! Here’s something that makes sense. I feel the same way about the practical homeopathy taught by Joette. Both Dr. Price and the Banerjis figured out how to help people be healthy without having to spend a lifetime and a whole lot of money figuring out why. I now have a real sense of security in that I have the tools I need to care for my family and friends. For more information on Dr. Prasanta Banerji, visit pbhrfindia.org.
Sheena Golish
Former Chapter Leader
Jupiter, Florida
HEALED WITH RAW MILK
Our daughter had a severe reaction to her twelve-month vaccines. It started with seizures and ultimately her stomach was so torn up that she didn’t grow an ounce or have a solid bowel movement for over a year. We had tried everything we knew to try when our chiropractor recommended raw milk to us. We found a local farmer and got our first gallon. Within twenty-four hours she had her first solid bowel movement. Within a month she had moved up a full clothing and shoe size and gained five pounds. Many of her neurological issues subsided considerably as her stomach lining was noticeably healed by consuming the raw milk. We are so thankful to see our baby girl coming back to the healthy child she used to be.
Mary Coop
San Antonio, Texas
BEST HEALTH STRATEGY
I really love the Weston A. Price Foundation and their eating strategy. Compared to all the others I’ve read about (Atkins, Paleo, Primal, Bulletproof, etc.) this seems to be the most grounded and sustainable. Really appreciate their focus on traditional food. Thanks, Wise Traditions, for your work getting sensible and wise nutritional advice out there!
An iTunes comment
SIDEBARS
LOW-CARB AND THYROID FUNCTION?
The following statement from Wise Traditions (Winter 2017) is misleading regarding certain thyroid problems being a side effect of low-carb diets overall: “Research indicates that a low-carb diet can cause free T3 thyroid hormone to decrease and reverse T3 thyroid hormone to increase, blocking biologically active thyroid hormones.”
If one looks up the two sources cited, the first only studied low-carb diets for four days. And the second source only allowed eight hundred calories on the carb-free diet, which is akin to starvation. So logically the body will make RT3 to preserve itself, much like an all-carbohydrate diet if it only had eight hundred calories.
A healthy, healing low-carb diet should contain a liberal amount of good fats (coconut oil, lard, raw butter, etc.), a moderate amount of good-quality protein (meat, fish, eggs) and plenty of low carb (non-starchy) vegetables—making it typically over two thousand calories, not eight hundred. April Waitzel, Fair Lawn, New Jersey
RESPONSE FROM KIM SCHUETTE, CN: I agree that an eight-hundred-calorie diet is not sustainable; however, these are the studies that medical researchers have to go by as longer-term clinical studies have not yet been done. However, many doctors and health practitioners have confirmed hypothyroidism in those on a long-term low-carbohydrate diet.
While there is no place in a healthy diet for refined carbohydrates, keep in mind that the primary concern about a low-carbohydrate diet is that carbohydrates directly affect thyroid function. Glucose and insulin are necessary for conversion of the inactive T4 hormone into the biologically active T3 hormone. Without adequate carbohydrates in the diet, glucose and insulin are typically quite low. Low T3 leads to a form of hypothyroidism that often goes undiagnosed as many physicians fail to look at free T3 levels in their patients.
Cate Shanahan, MD, describes what she calls “hibernation syndrome.”1 Hibernation syndrome occurs for many people after switching to a low or very low-carbohydrate diet. Its notable effects include weight gain, insomnia as well as a need for more sleep. and cold extremities.2 The biochemical marker for hibernation syndrome is abnormally high levels of reverse T3. Increasing carbohydrates will typically cause the level of reverse T3 to return to normal.
The result is non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS), also known as euthyroid illness syndrome. Some practitioners appropriately call it “low T3 syndrome.”3 In NTIS, the person has normal levels of free T4 with low free T3. Conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver and other organs is impaired.
Glucose is necessary for the conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver. Without adequate glucose, the liver struggles to make enough T3, which is the form of thyroid hormone critical for healthy thyroid function. Without sufficient T3, hypothyroidism results. I, along with many other health practitioners, have seen countless women lose weight once carbohydrates are added back into their diets. The reason is that carbohydrates support the body in producing T3, the biologically active thyroid hormone, which speeds up metabolism.
1. Shanahan, Catherine. Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food. Lawai: Big Box Books, 2009.
2. J. Kohrle, et al. Thyronamines- Past, Present, and Future. Endocrine Reviews February 2011; 32 (1): 64 – 80.
3. Kresser, Chris. “Low T3 Syndrome: It’s Not about the Thyroid!” https://chriskresser.com/low-t3-syndrome-i-its-not-about-the-thyroid/.
REMEMBERING KATHERINE CZAPP (DECEMBER 25, 1956 – OCTOBER 31, 2016)
Our connection began with a phone call to join a local buying club and would unfold over thirteen years.
To enter Katherine’s home was to take a step back in time. There was a quality of peace, a home simple yet graced with elegance, much like Katherine herself. Together with her husband Garrick we’d share cups of lemon ginger tea served in bone china teacups, raw honey stirred slowly with silver teaspoons—treasured finds from a nearby consignment shop. We’d delight in thick slices of sourdough rye bread, still warm from the oven, dripping with slabs of farm-fresh butter. A simmering pot of bones, a bowl of soaking beans, a jar of milk clabbering—what were these mysteries of the kitchen, I wondered.
It’s the fall of 2003. I am beset with an ever-increasing list of physical health complaints, and I’m having dreams of cows. I’d been a vegetarian for twenty-five years and was quite befuddled by this development. Wasn’t I supposed to be the picture of health?
I had observed during some of our buying club deliveries another mystery. A white van would pull up to the curb in front of Katherine’s home, and very quickly be surrounded by folks leaving the van with gallons of milk. What’s this? A new type of home delivery? And I will never forget at Thanksgiving seeing a huge turkey being wheelbarrowed down the sidewalk. I asked Katherine what was happening and she replied that folks were just picking up their raw milk and pastured turkeys. In a tone of superiority I remember replying I was a vegetarian and did not “do” dairy or meat. (I later apologized for said tone of voice and judgment of what I did not understand.)
And yet, here I am sitting at Katherine’s dining room table telling her about my cow dreams. She gently suggests I might be interested in hearing a new perspective about traditional foods. An evening talk sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation would be in the area along with a two-day workshop.
It is February 2004. I attend and experience a paradigm shift of unimagined magnitude. I cry much of the time as I listen and realize I had created many of my health challenges by my choices—but I am also empowered to realize that I can heal myself by making different choices.
Katherine opened a door for me, and I walked through. Katherine walked her talk quietly. She never proselytized or judged. If asked a question she would answer truthfully and completely. Over the years I came to value the depth of Katherine’s intellect and her ability to research issues as evidenced by articles written for the Wise Traditions journal. Katherine was curious; she loved learning, and her tenacity in seeking answers to technical questions amazed me. When it was time to edit the Wise Traditions journal, our community knew to wait patiently until the deadline passed as Katherine was committed and not to be disturbed. Following the Michigan workshop in 2004, I initiated a WAPF study group to discuss this new dietary strategy, share successes and figure out failures. Over many years of WAPF potlucks (Katherine’s gingerbread with hand-whipped raw cream always a favorite), our group grew not only in knowledge but in our buying power as we pooled resources and time.
Spring 2006 saw our raw dairy farmer stopped by the MDA. Quickly, with Katherine’s guidance, we rallied, went “underground” with our milk delivery, and began a campaign to preserve our right to choose our food. Our study group morphed into the Ann Arbor chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation to create a firmer community base for our activism. Katherine was my silent partner as I reluctantly agreed to be chapter leader; after all I was “just” a homemaker and a newbie to WAPF. Her calm, clarity and confidence sustained me and the community that grew from our efforts.
It is said that when a student is ready, the teacher appears. Katherine was my teacher and my friend. When I learned Katherine was seriously ill, there was such disbelief. How could someone who lived such a clean diet, walked through this world at an early 20th century “European” pace, was about as unplugged from modern stressors of today’s world as anyone I’d ever known. . . . how could this happen? There is no answer.
Katherine and I corresponded through the spring and summer before her passing on October 31, 2016. From her letters I read of a woman at peace with herself, who had no regrets, found joy and pleasure in her friendships, stayed deeply connected to the natural world, loved, laughed and danced. In her words to me July 16, 2016, “A light heartedness has cast its healing glow over my days and I so rejoice in it.”
We, of the Wise Traditions community, are the beneficiaries of Katherine’s legacy through her writing and commitment to the technical details that enrich our path and lead us to our own discoveries. I ask the Weston A. Price Foundation to please accept my enclosed donation in memory of Katherine Czapp to be used as befitting her legacy.
Katherine, I carry you in my heart and think of you each time I make your chicken liver pȃté or pour a glass of raw milk. I no longer dream of cows, but live a life of gratitude for all the small farms and farmers that nourish me, body and soul. You opened a door, and I walked through, and my life was changed. I’m so grateful dear friend. And I shall miss your call: “…the Maine shrimp are in…”. Rene Garrity, WAPF chapter leader 2006-2007, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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