Brain Growth, Fat, and Omega 3’s with Dr. Ann Childers

Vinnie Tortorich talks to Dr. Ann Childers on today’s Angriest Trainer podcast.

AMAZON CONTEST

• Each week, Vinnie and Anna pick a winner who bought the most interesting/outrageous thing on Amazon
• You have to have clicked through Vinnie’s website for your Amazon purchase to be eligible
• Winner gets free t-shirt, or order of PVC vitamins, etc
• A few weeks ago, a listener who uses sex gel to avoid chafing on long runs won

WHO IS DR. CHILDERS?

• She is a psychiatrist that works with both children and adults
• Lives in the lovely Portland, OR
• Was on a heavily plant-based, low fat diet
  • this was because med-school (incorrectly) taught her that fat was bad

VEGETABLES AND OUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS

• We have trouble breaking down raw vegetables
• We aren’t good at breaking down cellulose walls or digesting fiber
• Our digestive systems are quite different than those of the big apes

HUMAN EVOLUTION

• We became hairless, bipedal, and started to sweat
• Although we lost our ape features, we gained the ability both to THROW spears and make them
• The human brain continued to grow (through exercise / persistent hunting) and we were able to use 20% of our brains as opposed to the apes’ ability to use 10%
• To support our new way of living, we had to begin to ingest lots of fat and innards of animals, thus causing our digestive abilities to change

THEORY ON SAT FATS RAISING INSULIN LEVELS

• Some researcher preaches that these fats found in meats will raise insulin levels
• Dr. Childers says had that ever been true, the Inuit and hunting tribes all would have been diabetics
• When Serena started this NSNG type diet with high fat, her cholesterol stayed the same and her triglycerides lowered significantly and she has no clogging of anything

ANN’S HEALTH TROUBLES

• At age 45, Ann learned that she had osteoporosis and had the bones of an 80+ yr old
• She also had incredibly affecting ADHD and had to find ways to control it
• Ann cracked teeth in her jaw, had headaches, tremors, memory issues
• She had a minor stroke, and realized she had to do something now or be disabled for the rest of her life
• Part of what saved her was changing her diet from this vegan-esque diet to one that did have fat etc.