Child Constipation, Fasting and Fast Twitch Muscle, Best Animal Bone Broth | THRR088

My 7 year old daughter started complaining of stomach pain a few months ago. She’s always been a good eater and has been gluten free since age 3 (not celiac, but noticed many health benefits for the whole family from cutting it out), eats minimal amounts of processed garbage and her diet is full of high quality protein, healthy fats and real, whole food.

Her stomach pain increased in both severity and frequency over the summer. We cut back on dairy, with moderate success. We had blood tests done—all normal with no apparent food sensitivities or any other blood marker abnormalities. Finally her doctor did imaging that showed significant constipation. I have tended towards constipation my whole life, and my mom has IBS-C, so there’s definitely some familial tendencies.

Her pediatrician suggested miralax to get things going, which we have been doing for the past several days, and she’s certainly pooping now, but still has daily tummy aches. Her pediatrician said daily miralax wouldn’t become habit forming and was perfectly safe for long term use, but this obviously doesn’t seem like the ideal answer.

Do you have any suggestions on what I should try to bring her some relief, both in the short term but also for her digestive system as a whole? Why would a 7 year old who eats a healthy diet develop such severe constipation? How concerned should I be about using something like Miralax and are there better alternatives for keeping things moving?

All my best, Katie

2. Anaerobic Ketolysis? [14:57]

Howdy, Wolfs!

Question...

From what I understand, the body can only metabolize fatty acids aerobically, but it can metabolize glucose both aerobically and anaerobically.

What about ketone bodies? Can the body anaerobically metabolize ketone bodies?

I've scoured the internet periodically for probably a couple of years looking for a definitive answer to this nagging question, but I always come up empty handed.

I have no functional reason to ask this question - I'm just a nerdy personal trainer with a penchant for delving deep and an evolutionary biology/ancestral health bent.

3. Fasting and Fast Twitch Muscle [16:37]

Bonni says:

From https://body.io/intermittent-fasting-part-3-go-eat-yourself/

"macroautophagy is transient in nearly all tissues except fast twitch muscle[7, 11]

..... Prolonged fasting triggers autophagy to deteriorate muscle tissue faster than severing the nerve to the muscle[29, 30]. ..... The only thing IF does for autophagy is to drive it into destructive ranges for fast-twitch muscle."

This is from an old post and the references don't work anymore - do you have any info to back up or refute the fasting /fast-twitch muscle claim? Would eating fat prohibit the muscle catabolism or would protein be needed? thanks!

4. Finasteride for baldness? [22:43]

Steven says:

Hi Robb and Nikki,

I recently visited the doctor for a checkup and she noticed that my hair is starting to thin up top. Sad day :(

She recommended that I get on a medication called Finasteride, and said that if I start taking it now I can likely preserve my luscious locks.

I did some digging online, and the testimonials I have found regarding side effects scare the bejesus out of me.

Do you have any thoughts on this medication? And do you have any recommendations on the diet/lifestyle side of things to help keep my hair?

For context, I am a 32-year-old male athlete (rock climber), and in excellent health. I follow a mostly paleo diet, with a few exceptions here and there. I eat plenty of protein (1 g per lb bodyweight) mostly from grass-fed beef, about 200-300 g of carbs per day to fuel my training and climbing, and plan to start taking more collagen supplements to support tendons, skin, and hopefully hair.

Any thoughts are welcome!

I love the podcast, and what you have done with the Healthy Rebellion. Thank you for all that you do.

5. Which animal is best, re: bone broth [28:59]

Sarah says:

Hey team! LOVE the podcast and all of the work that you do.

I recently moved abroad and suddenly have access to many high-quality, inexpensive animal bones. I’ve been making beef bone broth in the instant pot (GAME CHANGER) and it’s delish! I usually break my fasts with a cup, and I’ve saved the fat for cooking. I accidentally bought lamb bones once, and turns out they made amazing bone broth too. So now I wonder- is bone broth ACTUALLY THAT good for me? Which animal is best? Beef, lamb, chicken, camel (no joke!)? Any suggestions on finding literature on animal nutrient contents?

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