"C” meaning vitamin C of course. First let us set some background so that we may understand why the vitamin is so important.
We have known about vitamin C and its importance to human health for some time. Several researchers, among them the prominent double Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, have researched and documented the effectiveness of vitamin C in boosting the body's immune system and helping in the prevention or reversal of disease. Most mainstream studies in science and medicine have sought to discredit these findings and downplay the importance of any vitamin in human health. They typically stick to the official statement that any amount in excess of what is necessary to avoid the specific disease related to deficiency (for example vitamin C and scurvy) is excess. While no respectable scientist or doctor suggests that vitamins are toxic, except in some atypical cases, they tend to say that anything above the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is a waste.
Using the evidence of my own life, I can say that when properly used, vitamin C is very effective in boosting health and strength, and is especially good at combating respiratory infections.
Former President Barack Obama has recently criticised President Trump’s administration for its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In short, it has been chaotic. As I look around the world some responses seem to be better than others, Germany in particular has been singled out for being particularly good, the Caribbean has been identified as a leader in response based on the low case rate. I suspect that it is too soon to be drawing any conclusions about COVID-19, it is a new virus that has entered the human population, experience tells us that it will infect most of us and come to be endemic, the establishment tells us that a vaccine is on the way and this will solve the problem.
Vaccines are really hard (there is none for the common cold) and the risk is that they could wreak more havoc than they prevent if we rush one into use. If the most common responses to the pandemic, social distancing, quarantine, lock down, is the only way to respond in the absence of a vaccine, then we are in for a very unsettling two years, never mind the Tokyo summer Olympics (gone) the winter Olympics of 2022 will also not be able to be held.
One of the techniques of clear thinking is to try to use what you know, to figure out what you do not know. Warren Buffet is considered the GOAT of investors. I have followed him for over two decades and I think to consider him as an investor is incorrect, he is really a businessman who has first hand knowledge of how to operate a business. His holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, started life as a textile manufacturer, he bought it just before textile imports destroyed the U.S. market and fought for many years losing a small fortune in trying to turn the tide of history. Having failed to save it, he exited the textile business and turned the company into a holding company which he used to purchase many other businesses, and a few large purchases of stock in publicly traded companies.
In response to COVID-19 Buffet sold all his airline stocks, fair enough. When will we be flying (profitably) again? But then he sold eighty percent of his holdings in Goldman Sachs. Now Goldman Sachs runs the world, see this list of alumni to get a better understanding. In the financial crisis of 2008 the recently departed head of Goldman Sachs, Hank Paulson, was Secretary of the Treasury in the USA, and was front and center in the response. On this occasion Buffet increased his stake in Goldman Sachs, now with Manuchin in the Treasury (Goldman Sachs royalty, as his father was also a partner) Buffet sold 84% of his holdings in the business. Staggering.
Use what you know to try to understand what you do not know. I have been watching Buffet for a long time, listening to what he says, seeing what he does, and crucially, seeing the results of his actions. It is not possible to understand what someone intends without seeing the effect of their actions over time, consistent results mean that that is the intention. Buffet is very focused on making money in the safest way possible. Now that we are about to see the printing of money that will make the TARP program look like Kindergarten, he dumps one of the biggest beneficiaries of the post 2008 crisis policies. Clearly he is not expecting them to benefit in the same way as after 2008.
My personal take on this is that he does not expect a TARP like program from the Trump administration, never mind Manuchin. Since some kind of stimulus is bound to happen what will it be? Could it be that Buffet believes that Trump will not give money to banks, but to people directly? What could be the consequences of this? Maybe not good for investment banks. But is there not an election in November? Surely Joe Biden will return to a more traditional course? Unless Buffet believes that Trump will win? Trying to understand here, what a man does with his money speaks louder than words and any other actions.
How does this affect you and what does it have to do with vitamin C? Well we are in for a rough ride, you have to assume a vaccine is not coming. We are moving into a period of lock downs, lifting, partial lock downs, start stop that is going to be confusing, possibly dangerous. Throughout this period, and hopefully for the rest of your life, you have to protect your health, this is where the ‘C’ comes in.
Linus Pauling, two time nobel laureate is probably the foremost proponent of vitamin C. He ran afoul of the powers that be who did such a thorough job on his reputation that many consider him to have lost his mind in his later years. Not so, my life is evidence that his prescriptions work. I have been to four Olympic Games as an athlete, the first two I caught the virus of the games (there is always one) and became very sick. Then I was introduced to Pauling, and I have had one cold in 30 years (my fault). That's my evidence, not a large study, but what I have been able to do, and where I have been able to convince family and friends to follow, the results have been consistently good.
A brave lady, Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D. principal of FoundMy Fitness.com has now done research, wrote a paper and put together an excellent podcast on Vitamin C. All the science is explained, it is excellent. My one observation is that she worked mostly with meta data from studies done by others (no problem) but every study has a flaw, they use way too little ‘C’, 1 gram? That is like a half pint of light beer. The emphasis on blood plasma levels of C in people is a little misleading as there are a lot of activities right down to the excretion of ‘excess’ C that are beneficial to humans. Especially when it comes to respiratory infections- basically take C until you stop coughing or you shit.
Do not misunderstand me, this is the best piece of science around vitamin C I have heard or read since Pauling, she is to be congratulated.
I am a practical man, a man of action. I am interested in the applied, not the theory. I seek a sufficient level of knowledge to avoid harm and then experiment by doing, note the outcome, refine and go again. This is particularly important if you are marginal in any way, going paycheck to paycheck, having two or three jobs, struggling for money. You need to be able to go every day, at or near your peak, while protecting your long term health.
More on that later, for now, this is how you use C.
It is better to fart than sneeze. Start by finding your bowel tolerance, when your body is saturated with C and you take more, you will have diarrhea, explosive (great purge) so we start by taking 4 grams every hour until bowel tolerance. If you are healthy enough to be walking around this should usually happen within the first 10-14 hours, once you have hit bowel tolerance come down one or two grams (depending on total amount needed to get there, if over 20 grams come down 2). This is your daily dose.Take your base load daily by taking 4 grams per waking hour or more if your total is so high or you sleep a lot.
Once you have your base load laid in, become very aware of how you are feeling, if you sneeze, feel a headache coming on, your nose starts to run, then take 1 gram immediately, continue with your base load (4 grams an hour) plus an extra gram if symptoms persist. If you worsen, or do not improve up your dose, you are now looking for your new bowel tolerance. Your C is being consumed in an immune response to some invader. Take what is necessary, now you should be able to spot the signs of saturation, loose bowels and really stink farts, no need to go all the way. Stay just below bowel tolerance until your symptoms are gone.
Do not be fooled if you have this elevated need for vitamin C. You will feel fine, but you are in fact sick. So stay home and get lots of rest. Avoid others.
My highest sustained use of vitamin C was during the Lillehammer Olympics of 1994, heightened stress and attack from the many bugs going around as well as strenuous athletic effort and the fact that I consumed at the time vast amounts of sugar, saw me hit 100 grams of C a day for 10 consecutive days. At the end of it we posted the best finish of a non traditional nation in Olympic Bobsleigh history, and in fact were 10th in the world on two of the four runs. These records stand today.
Do not watch the number, trust the system, take what you need.
As you start to get better, your requirements will lower, always be aware of your bowel, it will let you know when you have enough.
The most common form of C is ascorbic acid tablets, usually in 1 gram doses. These are tedious to take and ascorbic acid is the harshest (but cheapest) form of ‘C’. Sodium or Calcium ascorbate in powder form are much more agreeable. There are effervescent forms of C, in 1 gram packs, unless you are in the 1%, these will bankrupt you if you attempt to follow the above plan using them.
They do however have an important use. Rhonda Patrick makes the point that IV use of C (has to be sodium or calcium so as not to dissolve the veins) results in much higher levels of C in the blood Plasma, and has achieved much improved outcomes for people with chronic illnesses. Makes perfect sense. If you inhale some effervescent C, using a dropper, this is the poor man's IV and is potent if uncomfortable. I highly recommend this if you feel a cold coming on, no need to inhale the entire solution at one go, just a few droplets per nostril.
If you need to reduce your C intake (e.g. if you are running low) try to be as gradual as possible, and be careful. Your body will have gotten used to the optimum amount and activated processes that are shut down when you are C deficient. It will take your body 3-4 days to re prioritise to the lower levels, during this time your immune system will be weaker and you will be more susceptible to infection.
A word about the common cold. It has been with us since the beginning and is itself a corona virus or more accurately several types of corona viruses. It has had a lot of time to adjust to the human host, and so is seldom fatal. It is however a ‘gateway virus’, weakening our immune systems for the invasion of more potent cousins. Want to avoid COVID-19? Do not catch a cold.
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