You are invited to join me and others from the JackKruse.com community for our 90-day Optimal Reset. Whether you’re new to JackKruse.com or you’ve been putting these things into practice for months or years, I want to support you in getting some traction and creating change in your own life. To support you, we are going to have a free Q&A once a month for you to ask Dr. Kruse questions and to get support in executing the 90-day Optimal Reset. Up to now, Q&As have only been available to gold members or silver members who buy a ticket. We are so committed to seeing you put these optimal strategies into practice that Dr. Kruse is going to make himself available for monthly Q&As to anyone who makes the commitment. Get registered for the 90-day Optimal Reset NOW! Email So, about commitment. What do you need to commit to in order to participate in this 90-day Optimal Reset? Prepare and savor an Epi-Paleo diet Commit to eating a BAB (big-ass breakfast) every morning. Rock it! If you have a Leaky Gut or are Leptin Resistant, follow theContinue Reading
BRAIN GUT 6: EPI-PALEO Rx
READERS SUMMARY: 1. HOW SHOULD WE CONSIDER EATING OUR DIETS? 2. WHAT IS THE EPI-PALEO Rx? 3. WHY YOUR BRAIN HEALTH IS LINKED TO ULTIMATE HEALTH. This blog followed a very popular July 2012 Webinar that I put on for my members a few days ago. The webinar was over two hours long and had a lot of Q & A done after it as well. I promised my members I would get a quick blog post up for them on some of the core materials we covered. Today’s blog is delivering on that promise. HOW TO CONSIDER EATING THE EPI-paleo Rx: – Always Respect circadian cycles and eat according to seasonality – Lots of good quality proteins (see below) – Lots of good quality fats (grass-fed/pastured animal fats – lard, tallow) – Liberal uses of seafood broths and bone broth made from ocean and grass-fed animals (to heal the gut) – Fermented vegetables and/or probiotics (to repopulate the gut with an Optimal Human flora) THE BASE OF THE PROTEIN/FAT PYRAMID of the EPI PALEO Rx: This diet is the best at controlling inflammation at the brain level to affect hormonal modulation and epigenetic expressionContinue Reading
BG 5: PARADIGM DRIFTS PARADIGM SHIFTS: EPI-PALEO?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF BRAIN GUT 4 AND 5 FOR MODERN HUMANS? 2. HOW DOES ENVIRONMENT SIGNALS GET TRANSLATED INTO THE LANGUAGE OF BIOCHEMISTRY? 3. WHAT MAKES SHELLFISH SO DAMN SPECIAL TO HUMANS? 4. WHAT ARE THE BRAIN SPECIFIC NUTRIENTS OF THE EPI- PALEO TEMPLATE? 5. DO YOU THINK OF FOOD AS HORMONE INFORMATION AND NOT A METABOLIC FUEL? GEEKS: The implications of Brain Gut 4 mean that to develop a brain seafood is required part of the program to maintain it. Nutrients and many other environmental factors have also been found to influence epigenetic programing of our DNA either directly or indirectly via metabolic sensors. Peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR’s), the vitamin D receptors, and the retinoid X receptors (RXR), and the retinoic acid receptors (RAR) are all examples of the nuclear receptors that interact with the brain cell membranes to control inflammation and metabolism all over our bodies. It turns out that PPAR’s are the receptors that are at the crossroads of where inflammation and metabolism actually cross. These are specialized lipid sensors that pay attention to our balance of omega 6 and 3 levels. 3% of the human genome is directly or indirectlyContinue Reading
BRAIN GUT 4: WHAT WAS HOMO'S SOLUTION?
READERS SUMMARY 1. Why should we look back to move forward in modern healthcare? 2. Is the Paleo Solution your species real solution? 3. How would have evolution had to build a human brain based upon what we know today? 4. How does lipid chemistry destroy the Savanna Hypothesis with some new knowledge we have in brain chemistry? 5. Will you Epi-Paleo it forward now that you have a deeper understanding how that 3 pounds of jelly works best in your head? The paleo community has the “Paleo Solution“, and it is a great introductory book to a lifestyle that will improve people to a higher plane of health than we have while eating a standard American diet found in our western world. It is clear from fossil data humans were in better physical shape in the late paleolithic before the Younger Dryas occurred as well. It appears that this deep freeze caused massive dietary change in the homo species from predominate hunter gatherers culture to and agrarian culture because of rapid climate change and elimination of the great megafauna from our food chains. The focus of this series, however, is focused upon when we jumped from purely primateContinue Reading
BRAIN GUT: 1 WHO ARE WE, REALLY?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHY CAN’T FOSSILS, BIOCHEMISTRY, TEETH, GEOLOGY, PALEOANTHROPOLOGY TELL US WHERE WE CAME FROM? 2. ARE WE REALLY PILOCENE OR PALEOLITHIC BEINGS? 3. DO WE STRADDLE THE FENCE OF BOTH ERA’S OR IS ONE MORE IMPORTANT? 4. HOW MIGHT NEUROSURGERY GIVE A NEW PERSPECTIVE TO THESE MYSTERIES? 5. IS HOMO HERE BECAUSE OF VIRAL MARKETING? If you are paleoanthropologist or archeologist you think fossils are the Rosetta Stone for discovering the path that human evolution took. If you are proteomic evolutionary biochemist you think molecular arrays are the best way to decipher the tea leaves of Mother Nature ways. If you are a geneticist you think the RNA/DNA is Holy Grail of human evolution. If you are dental specialist, like University of Arkansas professor, Dr. Peter Ungar you think it’s all about the mammalian teeth. Today’s blogosphere likes to define evolutionary thinking by thinking about the Paleolithic epoch and how it might have shaped the hominid tree. The paleolithic shaped the tree to be sure, but had nothing to do with planting the acorn. The paleolithic diet has been championed best, in my view, by Dr. Loren Cordain’s sustained efforts over the last 30 years. His workContinue Reading
Epi-Paleo Teleseminar
Buy Teleseminar If you struggle with eating disorders, obesity or diabetes; or if you have a family history of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, this webinar is especially for you. The Epi-Paleo diet is different from the traditional Paleo template – it is rich in iodine and magnesium and gives you complete, optimal brain function. Remember, HEALTH STARTS IN THE BRAIN. The way the brain goes, your health goes. In this teleseminar, we’re going to explore: The epi-paleo diet and how it affects the gut microflora. As you know from the leaky gut series, a healthy gut is imperative to reversing disease and experiencing a great quality of life. Iodine and it’s relationship with thyroid functioning. Iodine is the most important mineral in human optimization. Learn why fish oil and seafood and shellfish are NOT the same (quantum electron tunneling) — it’s the difference that “creates” consciousness (gamma coherence) and reveals why anesthesia works. We’ll also talk about fish oil, its antioxidant properties, and why it’s been conserved by evolution for 600 million years by every nervous system and every animal on this planet, including dinosaurs. The importance of DHA. When its levels fall in the brain, so does cognition, making way for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons and Eating Disorders.Continue Reading
COLD THERMOGENESIS 13: THE FAQ’s
READERS SUMMARY: WHAT ARE THE TOP 25 QUESTIONS ON CT FROM MY FORUM? The readers of my forum asked for a FAQ’s on CT and I decided it would be a good idea to make a short blog about this…….They picked their top 25 questions and I decided to answer them for this blog. If you have any others……just ask in the comments section. I answer them all when I have time. 1. What in the Heck is Factor X? [LisaAPB] Because of the last extinction event on our planet the weather was changed in seconds to a cold earth……and all life forms that survived that event had to navigate that environment and this survival was wired into the animals who survived and all their descendants epigenetically. Survival occurred by speeding up the reaction time to the environment. 67 million years ago this was an advantage…….today this is killing humans. 2. Isn’t CT mainly about activating, recruiting, and using brown adipose tissue (BAT)? No, but it is a large part of it. CT also depletes glycogen like exercise does and this stimulates our IGF 1 and sex steroids to improve endotoxin clearance in the portal circulation, lowers FBG, lowers glycationContinue Reading
CPC #3: DO YOU NEED A GALLBLADDER?
READERS SUMMARY: WHY IS BAD LIVING TIED TO MEDIOCRE THINKING? WHAT DOES A MODERN HUMAN NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GALLBLADDERS? You must become aware of the high cost of low living by cheap thinking. In biology, we often get what we deserve when we forget this. Today’s CPC will illustrate that point for you. Wasting your time doing things that do not get you to Optimal is losing opportunity to improve yourself. Today…….and every day from here become very aware of time. Be wise in the use of time. The question for living an Optimal life is never how much time do I really have…it is in how you use the time you have. And when you realize that…….you can begin to reverse the errors you made in that time. There is a great lesson here for those willing to think. I hope the sharpness of this message strikes you in the correct fashion. When you think average you get average. Reject mediocre…demand optimal from me, your loved ones, and most importantly yourself. When you get this lesson………you will understand why there is much harm in wasting your most valuable asset. TIME The more sand that has escaped fromContinue Reading
COLD THERMOGENESIS 6: THE ANCIENT PATHWAY
READERS SUMMARY: 1. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBED THE “ANCIENT PATHWAY” TO A WARM ADAPTED HUMAN? 2. WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN ACTIVATING THE ANCIENT PATHWAY? 3. DO YOU NEED HIGH HORMONE LEVELS TO HAVE BIG MUSCLES AND GREAT POWER? 4. CAN WE EAT SMALL, EXERCISE SMALL, LIFT RIDUCULOUSLY LARGE, LIVE LONGER, AND FEEL LIKE SUPERMAN? 5. HAS OUR MODERN LIFE KEPT OPTIMAL IN OUR BLIND SPOT? The best way to describe this pathway to the lay public is to explain this is how evolution allows for ideal form to meet function in a tough environment. This environment is likely the primordial environment for life on our planet. This makes astrophysicists excited, because life might also be evolving in places like Titan. After all 5 extinction events on this planet geologist have told us they were followed by an extended cold climate. In cold mammals live longer. The pathway uses very little energy from ATP and gives a whole lot to the organism who uses it. But it requires cold to be present. In the pathway, the less effort you give, the faster and more powerful you will be when this pathway is active. People who live in this pathway can run a marathon with no training. They can lift unrealContinue Reading
COLD THERMOGENESIS TWO
READERS SUMMARY: ARE YOU AWARE THAT YOU CAN EASILY CHANGE YOU METABOLISM BY YOURSELF AT HOME? DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR CALORIE NEEDS TOO? ARE YOU AMBIENTLY AWARE OF WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT CONSIDERED IT? CONSIDER THREE NEW RADICAL RULES THAT MIGHT INTRIGUE YOU TO KNOW MORE ABOUT CT Now that you understand that I believe cold environments were how life first evolved, what implications does this hold for all life and humans today? I think with this thought experiment we need to begin to talk about another aspect of evolution to fully conceptualize how cold works for biology. Let’s talk about sleep for 4 short minutes. First, I want you to watch this video before you proceed. Sleep Recently, one of my readers pointed out he was confused by Dr. Gamble when she said the normal pattern of sleep in a natural environment had two cycles. He wanted to know why her version and my version for sleep as written in my post “Rx for the Leptin Rx” were not congruent. It was a great question that really opens the discussion to the idea of evolutionary mismatches. These mismatches occur in many modern systemsContinue Reading
THE REWARDING FEELING OF SAFE STARCHES
READERS SUMMARY: WHY SHOULD WE QUESTION EVERYTHING? WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF ALL CHOICE? WHERE MIGHT THE REWARD IN SAFE STARCHES TRULY LIE? HOW GOOD IS YOUR NEOLITHIC BRAIN AT SENSING YOUR PALEOLITHIC BRAIN? DOES QUANTUM MECHANICS PROVIDE AN EXPLANATION FOR THE PARADOX OF CHOICE? I took a stroll through some of my favorite sites last night because I could not sleep well (added back a safe starch ironically yesterday, too) because I have some big things on my mind, and it seems some of the doubters are beginning to see the magic in my Quilt document. I remember when I posted it and how I was ridiculed in some places. I just sat back and took it all in because I fully expected that response. In fact, I told one of my internet friends, Dexter Yard, that I did this by design for a reason. I went as far as emailing a copy of the document to him to look over before it ever was posted on the Internet. His reply was much more kind and subdued than what I faced publicly when I launched the document. He told me he felt that this was not going toContinue Reading
The Paleo Summit…is the Paleo diet the answer?
So what is the Paleo Summit to me? For me, it is where unconventional thoughts lead to stunning results! Come and listen to what we put together for free! Sean Croxton, of Underground Wellness, called upon me to talk about some stunning results. When Sean and I spoke, I was putting the finishing touches on a pretty epic bio hack to really address this with a real world N-1. Many of the gurus and experts will cite papers and research. Yet, I decided to use my primal instinct to bridge the gap to answer the question for myself. After 35 years of thinking and reading, I think I might have stumbled upon the answer to why the Paleo diet is the only adaptation a human may need to attain the road to Optimal! In 2012, I will be unleashing the most counterintuitive theories that the paleo-sphere has ever thought of. I will show you how one factor in our evolutionary history may just hold the key to what precisely is optimal is for us all. The one fact might predetermine precisely what we should be eating, instead of what we can eat. Many paleo forums are filled with macronutrient options that we haveContinue Reading
WHY PERSPECTIVE MATTERS?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. CIRCADIAN BIOLOGY NEEDS TO BE YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN AND NOT YOUR FOOD 2. WHY HAVING AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANCED BRAIN MAYBE A DETRIMENT AT TIMES 3. THINK ABOUT WHY YOU FEEL AND THINK THE WAY YOU DO BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING 4. THINK ABOUT WHAT IS SAFE BEFORE YOU EAT IT 5. CHANGING YOUR PERSPECTIVE MAY OPEN YOUR MIND TO NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR STALLS Circadian biology is so fundamental to sleep and metabolism but few people realize just how important it really is. It is more important than your macro or micronutrients. Most of you reading this really do not buy this because of the questions I get asked and all the comments I have seen made on FB, twitter, blogs, and on internet forums. The blogosphere is tied to macronutrient ratios. It is a fact that our neolithic mind has burned into our conscious beliefs. This post is about showing you why you might want to consider changing your perspective on things related to what you eat. What you feel like eating does not mean it should be what you are designed to eat. What you can eat safely, does not mean it should be what we are designedContinue Reading
DO YOU HAVE A GRAIN BRAIN?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHO IS DR. PETER UNGAR AND WHY ARE OUR TEETH A BIG DEAL? 2. WHAT DID GRAINS DO TO OUR BRAIN AND SKULL? 3. WHAT IS A CHIARI MALFORMATION AND HOW MIGHT IT BE TEETH RELATED? 4.. WHAT MIGHT BE THE REAL CURE OF SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)? 5. WHY PHYSICIANS NEED TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR DIET IN A HISTORY AND PHYSICAL EXAM? I saw a very interesting case in the clinic last week, and I decided I had to write a short blog on it because I think it makes and elegant point of some of the evolutionary changes we have seen in Hunter Gather skulls and modern skulls as we have continued to eat grains. If you are not aware of the work of Dr. Peter Ungar, you should read some of his work. My fourth cite is his masterpiece book on mammalian teeth. It is quite interesting and helps tie what our diets have done to shape our skulls and our occlusions. He is an expert on the study paleolithic teeth. Since I am a past dentist, and a present neurosurgeon, his work really resonates with me. It has allowed me toContinue Reading
THE OSTEOPOROSIS RX
READERS SUMMARY: WHAT ARE THE RULES THAT GOVERN THE OSTEOPOROSIS RX? DOES OLD AGE CAUSE OSTEOPOROSIS? ARE SYNTHETIC HORMONES AS GOOD AS BIOIDENTICAL HORMONES? WHAT IS THE EXERCISE RX FOR OSTEOPOROSIS? WHAT IS THE OSTEOPOROSIS RX? Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become weak and are more likely to break. People with osteoporosis most often break bones in the hip, spine, and wrist. If you think this problem is not common, let me pick up the rock you must have been sleeping under. In the United States, more than 60 million people either already have osteoporosis or are at high risk, due to low bone mass. RULE 1. If one is leptin resistant, Wolff’s law is null and void, and you are at very high risk for a fractured vertebrae or hip/wrist. You should stop here and go read EMF-8 Quantum Bone for the pathophysiology of this disease. The key features are to increase your spring water intake to 1-1.5 gallons of non fluoridated water a day and strict avoidance of artifical light and the use of pulsed EMF technology devices. This means that “normal conventional wisdom osteoporotic treatments” and exercise will not heal or strengthen a boneContinue Reading
WHAT SHOULD HCG/PALEO USERS CONSIDER AS ADJUNCTS?
READERS SUMMARY: ARE THE SUPPLEMENTS FOR THE LEPTIN RESET DIFFERENT FOR HCG USERS? WHAT ARE THOSE SUPPLEMENTS? WHAT DO THOSE SUPPLEMENTS DO? WHAT SHOULD HCG USERS CONSIDER OVER A STANDARD PALEO/PRIMAL TEMPLATE? I decided to add this post for the many readers I have that use HCG. To say that I have been inundated with emails about this topic would be an understatement. I think from my public comments at MDA and PaleoHacks about HCG, people have wanted to know a bit more about why HCG patients react differently than a regular paleo patient would. I think is best explained by the following example. Patients given coumadin by their doctors have to be treated differently for osteoporosis in my clinic. Most of you know I no longer use the bisphosphonate drugs as a first line treatment for this condition. So if a patient is on coumadin, I cannot offer them high dose Vitamin K2 therapy because coumadin depletes vitamin K as a side effect of its mode of action. This why so many people on long term coumdin treatment suffer from dystrophic calcification of their arteries in their aortic tree and coronary vessels while simultaneously having extreme osteopenia. So theseContinue Reading
TO B OR NOT TOO B……..OR IS IT PROTEIN?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHY IS PALEO PROTEIN CRITICAL TO CARTILAGE AND TENDON REPAIR? 2. HOW DOES PROTEIN HELP REPAIR CARTILAGE IN INJURY AND DEGENERATION? 3. WHY ARE B VITAMINS CRITICAL TO THE PALEO TEMPLATE? 4. WHY A PALEO TEMPLATE IS BEST FOR A PREGNANT MOM OR A YOUNG CHILD? Today, we are going to go back to the top ten Paleo supplement blog and begin to talk in depth about why protein and B Vitamins are critical components to a paleo template. This is covered in levee 14 and 24 of the QUILT. One of the facets of this lifestyle is becoming active again. To become active and remain active requires a person to have optimal functioning cartilage, tendons, and muscle. As most of you know, I make a living operating on these structures, so I think have a pretty good understanding of how to make them optimal both before and after I have to treat them. This topic is also near and dear to me, because a meniscus knee tear is what got me to adopt this new lifestyle. If you listened to my podcast with Jimmy Moore, you might remember that I would not have any surgery untilContinue Reading
HOW TO FIND YOUR INNER MASTERPIECE?
READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHAT IS PPAR-gamma AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? 2. HOW DOES IT TIE ARTHEROSCLEROSIS, VITAMIN K2, AND OUR LIPID PANEL TOGETHER? 3. HOW IS A LEAKY GUT, THE LIVER, OBESITY,CHOLESTEROL, and BLOOD PRESSURE ARE TIED TOGETHER? 4. HOW IS EXERCISE COUPLED TO THIS COMPLEX WEB? 5. HOW DOES PQQ FIT INTO ALL THIS? WHY IS IT A CRITICAL PALEO SUPPLEMENT? 6.. HOW DOES LEPTIN PLAY A ROLE HERE TOO? Today we are going to hit on a new levee that ties diet to exercise and throws in a bit of leptin. I am going to apologize in advance, because there is going to be some mind bending biochemistry with in it. I think after explaining it to you, it will begin to help you understand how some of my recent blog posts are all tied together and needed for optimization. It also will help show you why low volume HIIT exercise is optimal for health, and endurance exercise is not. The Levee under discussion today is number 12. PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) gamma is regarded as the master regulator of the adipocyte and of lipid metabolism in the cell. It is under the direct control of leptinContinue Reading
MSG your GUT and your BRAIN post trauma.
READERS SUMMARY: 1. How does MSG and aspartame affect you and your brain and your fat loss? 2. What do artificial sweeteners do to a human? 3. How does neuronal injury from diet, trauma, and energy depletion all tie together? 4. What about young humans? 5. What about young humans with injured brains? In part 2 of this series, we will explore how excitatory amino acids in foods and introduced to our GI tract could cause us some problems with normal functioning causing weight plateaus. We will discuss how MSG and aspartame (Nutrasweet), could wreak havoc with the human brain. This is especially true if that brain already has been concussed many times or is afflicted with some neurodegenerative disorder or is connected to an already leaky gut (low HDL level). Many people don’t seem to understand how MSG and artificial sweeteners cause damage to neurons. The experimental data on this area is documented quite well by Dr. John Olney. His work began in 1969. He studied the endocrine effects of MSG on the hypothalamus. Most of my blog readers know that leptin signaling in the hypothalamus is critical for developing obesity and controlling weight among other things. You mightContinue Reading
CONCUSSIONS, DIET, AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE PART 1
READERS SUMMARY: 1. How does energy depletion link neurodegenerative, concussions, and diet? 2. Why are diabetics more at risk for concussion and neurodegenerative diseases? 3. What is the NMDA receptor and why should I care? 4. How does the NMDA receptor work normally and in diseases like concussion to protect us? 5. How does glutamate, aspartate, and glycine tie into this story? This series of blogs is going to focus in on neuronal injuries and how they all have a common tie to defective energy metabolism. The initial blog will be heavy on biochemistry but it will set the tone for you gaining a deeper appreciation of how damage to a receptor in our brains may cause different diseases, but have very common symptoms. I have focused in on energy depletion in some neurodegenerative diseases already, but we need to expand the net to explain how cerebral concussions and dietary choices are linked and can cause a less than optimal result for the person suffering from it. In this series I will also write a blog about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) since football season is now in session and this injury tends to make news in the fall sports sections.Continue Reading
