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Few questions for you Tan Man...

- Any recommendations for shaving cream?

- Any thoughts on ground living (sitting and sleeping on the floor)? People who do this seem to be much more mobile and have less back pain.

- Read that you you train with a Functional Patterns machine. Would like to learn more about your training regimen. Also, any thoughts on the current gym/bodybuilding culture?

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For women, good bar soap seems to work. For men, I use an electric clippers and am not often clean shaven. Unfortunately I don’t have anything better for you than that

Grounding is great as much as is practical for your life. I sleep on a firm organic mattress, maybe not ideal but there is a cost to living in a way that’s too “weird” especially if you have a spouse

I have done FP exclusively for about 3 years now, can’t recommend anything else.

It’s too complex to talk about in one answer but most conventional training that people do does not respect the evolved structures of our bodies. Motions are too symmetrical and don’t include rotation that is consistent with how we are designed to move

Difficulty w fp is that you need to train with a practitioner, hard to do on your own (especially to start)

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Thank you for answering!

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Lastly, I was told that magnesium can only be absorbed if taken with phosphorus and calcium, otherwise it’s detrimental to your bones. I don’t have a ton of info on that but I’d like to hear what you think

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Mg and Ca are oppositional vitamins, so keeping a balance in mind is important. Ca supplements are all terrible, that should come from raw milk or digestible bones e.g. sardines. Basically you need vitamin K2 for calcium to get in your bones anyway, and that is usually present in good natural calcium sources

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There are also weird things that e.g. Wi-Fi does to calcium and magnesium. The tl;dr is that stress seems to more negatively impact calcium, so modern people def need more Mg

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I have a few questions.

First, you recommend collagen. I’ve seen a few videos debunking its use because it’s 1.) non essential amino acids 2.) high in histamines 3.) poor absorption 4.) they’re broken down in the stomach and not utilized in a beneficial way like people claim.

I want to believe it works but what do you think?

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Collagen is super important and absent from much of the meat people consume on a daily basis. Surely the best way to get it is through osso buco/bone broth/gelatinous cuts of meat. But it is full of a few amino acids, glycine most notably, that people dont get enough of.

As for its ability to help you “bulk”, i would probably defer to the bodybuilding folks for better advice on that

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Question on moisturizers. I like the one I've used but obviously it's full of crap. But if I use something like only shea butter, it's greasy and not that pleasant. Thoughts on alternatives that might absorb better but not be filled with chemicals?

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Would recommend tallow for 99% of people, have you seen my substack on it? It’s one of my earlier ones

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hm no I don't think so. I have tallow (and make tallow)... but the 100% fat/oil seems to a) make me hot and sweat under it (I live in the South so it's very humid!), and b) doesn't absorb so it's challenging to put on clothes and not have them get stained. I have very dry skin, so it's not a "saturation" issue (if that's the right methodology!). But let me find your post and read it! Thanks.

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Good tallow balms are whipped w honey as well which helps. You also need a v small amount relative to other products

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I just ordered some - I'll report back!

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Do you have any suggestions for healthy foods to take camping?

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For sure, assuming you’re referring to backpacking style camping-- if you can bring a cooler and there is a grill I would just grill meat, veggies, and make eggs over a cast iron pan

For minmalist camping I would look for hard cheese, honey, prosciutto or salami from Europe (this can be pretty hard to find domestic), and of course I’d bring masa chips. Dried fruit can be good too. None of this needs to be refrigerated and everything is very nutrient dense which is helpful when exerting yourself

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I’ll have to especially stock up on the masa chips for our trip. Thanks so much!

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1. Are seed oils OK to use in skincare since they have not been cooked yet?

2. Can you talk about your stances on exercise? I have been balancing my hormones by quitting HIIT and curious about the best way to reimplement

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Cooking is not really the problem with seed oils. They are already bad by the time they are in the bottle. Besides, your body is 98.6 and full of oxygen-- perfect environment for oxidation

My preferred exercise methodology is functional patterns (functionalpatterns.com)

I haven’t done anything else in about 4 years and I have a completely new body. It’s rehabilitative and low impact and ideal for both men and women, although it does kind of require at least monthly PT sessions with a practitioner

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Awesome! You rock! Thank you so much for the info! I’ve already healed my chronic inability to not get burned and have a nice tan going as well as acne that has plagued me since childhood!!

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Keep up the good work!

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I feel my absolute best when I’m eating an abundance of fruit, meat (beef, lamb, bison), organ meat, butter/animal fat, eggs, and raw dairy (in moderation). Yet, I cannot stop thinking — I need greens! My vegan past is showing here, as everyday I feel guilty for not including leafy greens or superfood powders. 😂😂 Do you think there are some veggies we need for optimal health?

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I eat lots of veg - if it’s home/local and organic it’s good for me! We’re lucky to be in a rural county and I’ve got a small garden

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Garden grown is the best! Pretty easy to keep herbs especially indoors

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Yes I have a bunch of herbs, too. I'm adding one 4x8' raised bed each season and we're now enjoying home grown heirloom tomatoes, green beans, and cukes. We had delicious sugar snaps, and I've got a local variety of heirloom watermelon and cantaloupe growing nicely. It's great to be growing again - I grew up in a farm family

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Taking it to the next level! The productivity of one single garden is amazing

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I was just going to ask a similar question regarding vegetables. It's gardening season for me and was wondering what the best vegetables are to eat for our health. I've grown all the different greens in the past but in the end, they don't seem appealing and end up being fed to the chickens, goats and pigs! I think you hinted at a future post on this, but I don't think I've seen one yet.

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Working on it but haven’t gotten to it yet! I would try to stay away from cruciferous vegetables but arugula, herbs, and tomatoes are pretty easy to grow in a garden.

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What is wrong with cruciferous vegetables?

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They contain high concentrations of oxalates which can exacerbate poor gut health

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I’m really looking forward to the vegetable post! I hugely rely on them as a source of high volume, satiating but low calorie and cheaper option.

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There are plenty of veggies that are solid, especially in moderate quantities.

Organic is super important since the plants absorb pesticides and have no way of processing them, unlike animals.

I like arugula, asparagus, and zucchini in particular

The powders I would not touch, but the real thing is great. Just avoid things that you personally can’t digest. Eg cauliflower gives me a lot of gas so I don’t emphasize it

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Bummer - cauliflower (all the cruciferous veggies) are my favorite and fortunately I have no gut issues with any of them.

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Then I Wouldn’t worry about it!

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Hope I'm not too late on this thread, but I wanted to ask about your thoughts on the Carnivore Diet. I'll be honest, it's not something that I think is a good idea in the long term, but a popular YouTuber had suggested it as a possible way (for a month or two) to reset the gut if you have SIBO, and my ears perked up. I am so fed up with dealing with the symptoms of SIBO for all these years, and it just seems that maybe extreme measures are needed for something that was probably caused by something extreme (thank you, Monsanto!) in the first place. Leaving aside the fact that I have no idea if I could actually pull it off, I just wonder about whether the Carnivore Diet is safe, even in the short term. Like, how do you get enough Vitamin C unless you supplement? I'm afraid I don't trust the Google search, and have no idea if there have been any studies done to show the diet's effects, whether positive or negative. It does seem to have been a game changer for some people with extreme autoimmune diseases, but one size doesn't fit all. What do you think?

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Also, you warn against omega 3’s as well as omega 6’s. Do you recommend not taking something like rosita cod liver oil and eating chia seeds in smoothies etc?

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Cod liver oil is a potential exception bc of the nutrient density. I would try it out only in the winter in cold places, primarily if you are Northern European

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I have an a entire article on flax/chia/hemp seeds so no need to repeat myself here

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1. what are the best states/areas in the U.S. to live close to organic farms to get fresh meat/eggs/vegetables?

2. is it critical to live somewhere with 4 seasons climate or mild northern california climate is good too?

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The best “food oases” in the country in my experience are:

- PA and western NJ

- parts of upstate NY and VT (Adirondacks/Burlington)

- the TX Hill country

- northern CA (Marin/Sonoma county)

- mountains of NC

- I’m sure there are others but this is what I’m familiar with

Tbh most of the country is fertile and has the potential to grow abundant good food, but there are two exceptions:

1. Climate-- desert areas and anywhere too tropical (eg Florida) do not have the weather for good meat and dairy farming

2. Economic-- many otherwise fertile areas are screwed up bc of a) economic depression-- the people there don’t buy quality food and thus it’s harder to get and b) people have screwed up the land w pesticide use (like much of the Midwest) and living there means tons of pollution exposure

To answer the next question, I think there is a lot of value in living in a cyclical climate, especially if your ancestors hail from a place with such a climate. It’s a long topic to get into, and living in a warm place like San Diego may be very pleasant, but I think there is a lot of physical and moral value to living in a place with seasons, especially if you have a family.

Suffice to say there are good reasons why many of the most productive and innovative people come from or live in such areas, as opposed to the places that are in perpetual summer

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thanks for the great information!

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June 13, 2023
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- liver (vitamin a and basically every other nutrient)

- eggs (yolks in particular) for choline

- raw milk and butter (vitamin A)

- fish eggs (wild salmon roe, caviar)

- magnesium (most foods are deficient in this)

- whatever foods she is craving, provided they are natural and of high quality

Most of this comes from Weston price’s book, a major sub-theme of the book is about healthy child development through pregnancy and early childhood

Pregnancy is obviously massively taxing on the woman’s body and she needs all the help she can get. Restriction of food or calories should be avoided

Developing that bodily intuition is also v important for when it comes time to give birth

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June 15, 2023
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June 15, 2023
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Yes sir

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