JACK!!!! please don’t ever apologize for going long. Everyday I am not listening to something to better my education I have to listen to the radio and I hate it…..

I wish you could just do 20 per week sometimes.

Cholesterol: I agree with everything that was said. I would just add that you might want to spend some time reading about apo A and B lipoproteins, and how to interpret an NMR lipoprofile if you are really concerned about the issue. The most used test is obsolete and serves little purpose other than a tool to sell statins. If your doctor disagrees, get a new doctor.

Fasting blood sugar: I don’t agree with this one. Quoting values for fasting blood sugar can be very misleading. Several years ago I thought my fasting blood sugar levels were rising because I thought I saw a trend from each year’s physical. So I bought a device to measure fasting blood sugar. My first measurement was in the low 70’s. My reaction was that the device was wrong because the blood test from my physical put me at 90. So I tested again. The level was around 80. Then I waited several days and the value was back up to 90. Finally, it occurred to me that each time I tested it was an hour or so later in the morning. The earlier I got out of bed the lower the number.

Fasting blood sugar very much depends on cortisol and glucagon, and perhaps other hormones that will effect the breakdown of glycogen in the liver. This all happens in the early morning before you wake up. Your brain is getting you prepared to run from the lion when you exit your cave. At least that is my theory. In fact, my fasting blood sugar is lower
in the winter and higher in the summer on average. It is highest no matter what the morning hour in the summer the day after I ride my bike 100 miles. Maybe the cortisol stays high before going back down. I don’t know. I have had numbers between 67 and 104 for fasting blood sugar. 99% of the time the numbers are between 70-100. They are as likely to be near 70 as 100. It all depends. Basically don’t get alarmed if you are at one end or another of this range; it is normal. And if you doubt this, go pay $18 for a blood sugar reader and start testing. You will be surprised at the variation. In fact, I am starting to wonder how doctors diagnose anything with many medical tests. The variation can be huge for a perfectly healthy individual. Of course the drug companies see otherwise. Drug company equity prices are directly correlated to whatever is dictated for a so-called healthy total mass density cholesterol number.

I would love to hear more from Geoff Lawton about a more humid environment (Deep South – 8b Georgia). We are finishing up the buying of land. I plan on doing passive solar but not sure what else to do. I’m in a neighborhood with no covenants but I don’t want it to look trashy and I want it to have solid resale value (even though I hope to be there for a couple decades).

Jack,
Would love to hear more about Geoff’s input on designing a home. This is something I have been trying to wrap my head around for some time. Would particularly be interested in ideas for a TX type climate.

I have a question for Nick Ferguson regarding his soil builder lasagna that he described around 54-55 minutes into the show. What do you do with it the following season when you’re ready to plant? Do you turn it into the soil? Do you clear off any of the mulch? The reason I ask this is because I can see just putting transplants directly into the layers, but having that much mulch on top of the soil has been problematic for me when direct seeding crops like root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc.), spinach and lettuce. I try to pull the mulch back and form a farrow to expose the soil, but inevitably the mulch is blown/washed back over the soil, often times before the seeds have sufficient time to germinate, and they just can’t make it through the mulch. What can be done to avoid this?

Thanks so much to all of you for a great show!