Phytohormesis

I wanted to expand a bit further after my rant on my Grimhood Twitter this morning.

Many animal-based foods are bar none for bioavailable micronutrient density: seafood, shellfish, crustaceans, organs, bones and tendons, eggs of all species, ruminant meats, non-commercial poultry, so on and so forth. The same is true for fatty acids and hormones, which are derived from cholesterol, so you save your body some energy and work having to biosynthesize these endogenous compounds from precursors. And some even contain neurotransmitters, however these neurotransmitters are not very readily bioavailable when eaten (context dependent).

Plants, herbs, and spices contain not only micronutrients but also pharmacologically active alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, lactones, quinones, glycosides, tannins, proteins/amino acids, bioavailable neurotransmitters, triterpenes, saponins, volatile oils, fixed oils, and fats. Animals do not contain these constituents, or if they do they are in extreme trace quantities. These phytoconstituents are basically why all medicinal herbs and spices are beneficial to the body. These phytoconstituents are exactly what protect and detox your body from burnt proteins and sugars created from cooking meats and animal-based foods. This goes back into the vital importance of a balanced diet for long-term optimized health and even historically to hunters and gatherers. We were never strictly one or the other (again, context and latitude dependent).

Can you tell me what animal-based compound can inhibit the enzyme, amino acid decarboxylase (AADC), for example? No? I can tell you epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) derived from green tea can, and quite effectively at that.

Another example: resveratrol, found in fo-ti, my Food of the Immortals blend, and grapes, among other plants/herbs. It is one of the most well known phytoconstituents. It has inhibitory properties at monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B), as one of its numerous pharmacological actions. Thanks to this, it can prevent toxic dopamine metabolites from forming that progress into Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. It is of benefit for those who have, are at risk for, or in general want to avoid this pathways that creates toxic metabolites. Metabolites of amino acids, at that. MAO inhibition is a hard thing to come by, but numerous plants and herbs inhibit this enzyme and others, leading to heightened levels of pleasurable neurotransmitters (phenylethylamine, dopamine, etc.) without the association toxicity of excess consumption of stimulant drugs. What compound in meat or animal-based foods can do this?

There are numerous plants, herbs, and spices that we have evolved to have a hormetic benefit to over thousands and thousands of years. All plants contain active phytoconstituents and all plants have some degree of medicine in them because of this. Because these compounds are shared between essentially all plants, all humans have a history of consumption of these compounds and the ability to metabolize them quite easily. Therefore when consuming a wide variety of these compounds, like when a micronutrient is deficient, the body can selectively absorb and utilize what it needs. This is more specific in the case of macronutrients, minerals, and such, but does occur with other compounds as well. “Tolerance” is an extension of this.

It is only recently with the advent of loss of knowledge of proper preparation, overprescription of antibiotics, artificial blue light, non-native electromagnetic radiation, and disconnection from nature that people began to respond poorly to plant consumption. It is not an inherent feature within the human species whatsoever like many food gurus would lead to believe. Many of these plants, herbs, and spices were even imported across the world by ship so it’s not always necessarily a circadian mismatch either. There is something more to being unable to digest these plants or metabolize these compounds.

The anti-nutrient obstacle comes up often in ancestral/primal conversations, yet I’ve already outlined how many ancestral cultures processed these foods to effectively eliminate the anti-nutrient issue across the board. Anti-nutrients are primarily contained in seeds, grains, nuts, and beans, rather than many of the medicinal herbs I am referring to.

I’ve also seen the carnivore theory that any herb or spice that inhibits an enzyme is effectively a toxin, and I do not agree with this either. Black pepper comes to mind. That inhibition improves the absorption of nutrients from food, including the absorption of other phytoconstituents and compounds like curcumin in turmeric. The essential oils of fresh ground black peppercorn (similar terpenes in black pepper as cannabis) have medicinal properties, and the spice stimulates digestive enzymes in the stomach, similar to cayenne when consumed.

Curcumin in turmeric additionally is poorly absorbed primarily because it is an oil or fat soluble compound. The trick is to just take it with food or cook it into rice with something like ghee or sesame seed oil like described in Ayurvedic practices. I don’t believe the absorption kinetics really have much to do as to whether or not it is a desirable compound or not as it is a single compound of hundreds in turmeric. It’s inhibition of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) also does have incredible effects.

Even commonly consumed vegetables and spices. Celery was once consumed as a medicinal herb due to its nitric oxide precursors to help with blood flow, for example.

Tools like exercise, fasting, sauna, cold exposure, etc. can help redox and detox pathways, but it is much different than taking a medicinal herb. For instance, milk thistle and schisandra effectively improve function of and protect the liver. Or Lion’s mane for the brain, which is consumed as a food source in Asia. I don’t know of any sauna exercise that can massively increase glutathione levels specifically in major detoxification organs.

Phytoconstituents activate glutathione (redox/detox) pathways directly in some cases, and in others, causing the body to release specific compounds to do so indirectly.

Phytoconstituents work in numerous different ways. They can be specific to the brain, the liver, the heart, and protect against various different stressors. Different phytoconstituents work differently and different plants or constituents can defend against different types of illness. I’m sure some of you have now noticed that even despite many health-oriented accounts and food gurus maintaining an animal-based diet and exercise on Twitter have fallen ill to the recent worldly virus, even mildly, yet I seemingly cannot get sick at all. It’s not just my sun exposure practice, though it does play a major role as I’ve discussed in past articles.

Personally, I try to practice the whole food approach as I recommend many of you do the same. That means I try to derive what I can from my diet and intake over supplementation, however this may not always be possible with the soil issue we have at hand currently (again, context dependent). I don’t take isolate extracts like curcumin, sulforophane, resveratrol, etc. much, or the chemicals they isolate and synthesize to try to sell in the name of “health”. I am an avid believer in Mother Nature’s intelligence and what is known as the “entourage effect” wherein other active phytoconstituents either influence absorption of other constituents, potentiate their effects, or synergize with their effects as seen in the cannabis plant. I trust the Earth, Mother Nature, and whole foods, and have good reason to with all of mankind’s history demonstrating their benefits.

Some studies even find harm associated with these isolate compounds. But how much is contained in whole food sources or herbs? I guarantee you can’t eat enough broccoli for sulforophane to cause oxidative stress, for example. Quite the opposite in fact. But if you megadose or take a whole crops worth of a single compound in broccoli, not only do I argue that you might have been had, but that yes you might be hurting yourself. It is really no different than isolating sugar from a plant and overdosing on it.

I would argue that eating something like a carrot or making a tea is as natural as hopping into a freezing cold lake. I can’t argue with results. I will never preach for a vegan or even vegetarian diet, lifestyle, or anything, but once I really began to introduce plants, herbs, and spices into my intake, not only did my entire life improve, but also my body, my appearance, my mental state, my personality, and my ability to interact and react to others changed. I don’t believe I would be alive today to share with you all had I not seriously began studying and self experimenting with herbal medicines. I certainly wouldn’t be the same person you all know me as today, let alone as cognitively capable after my traumatic brain injury incident.

Studying the history of ancestral medicine is fascinating.

Not to mention many of the pharmaceutical chemicals, drugs, and medicines we have available today were inspired by Mother Nature herself either via direct derivement, analog or similar pharmacology/mechanism of action.

The Earth, plants, fungi, and bacteria are the world’s greatest chemists, although there definitely have been some extremely talented human chemists as well.

That was my thoughts for the day. Too much to write into a Twitter thread, but I figure you all would appreciate it more any way.

Love, truth, wisdom,

Daniel AKA Grimhood