Meeting Dr. Paul Clayton
Let me start by saying that I am a thousand miles from Earth having the honor of such an interview? Hmm, it’s a little said.
Those concerned about Health and Nutrition listen to his lectures, study his books and hunt down every single article.
Dr. Clayton, concerned with the health of our generation, but especially with the health of the coming generation, draws our attention in all its ways: blog, conferences, books, scientific treatises, the over-sharing of our children: overly addictive food, poisonous drinks and administration of excess drugs.
I read his articles on the blog, one of them caught my attention recently: about bulling … Would you ask what the bulling has to do with a scientist? It has! Bulling has always existed. That strengthened the current generation. But for the current generation, this is a serious problem. The problem is the chronic inflammation in which many of our generation are, but especially of our children’s generation.
Here you can read the whole article.
Depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, gastrointestinal problems, allergies and atopy … all are consequences of the chronic inflammation we are in.
Chronic inflammation, a kind of continuous fire, an atypical concern for the human body destroys both our physical, mental health and our behavior.
A scientist who devotes his time to research the causes but also treating chronic inflammation does my honor to answer a few questions from the hundreds I have.
1. Ani Cretu: Dr. Clayton, are we what we eat, what we drink and what we breathe?
Dr. Paul Clayton: We are, but there are many other factors we need to consider as well. Your genetic makeup, for example, and your microbiome are obviously important, but so are your social and personal interactions. You carry away microbes, memes and mannerisms from each interaction, to a varying extent, and we are influenced too by the zeitgeist, which affects us in many subtle ways. All of these systems interact, in a blend of control and chaos, so that a very minor factor may sometimes cause huge and lasting changes (the butterfly wing), while at other times a seemingly major perturbance is absorbed without leaving much trace. So we are what we eat and drink and breathe, but what we are is continuously changing.
2.Ani Cretu: As evidenced by all your research and books, chronic inflammation is the major cause of serious illness, right? Can you explain to my readers, to Romanians, what this means?
Dr. Paul Clayton: Inflammation is basically an immune response. It can be life-preserving when it protects us from infection or cancer, but if it is over-done, and continues for too long, it becomes highly destructive and causes the slow and progressive loss of functional tissue that constitutes the degenerative diseases. Ideally we should try to live in the goldilocks zone where the degree of inflammation is ‘just right’, but the modern diet predisposes to excessive inflammation, and therefore a high incidence of degenerative disease and early death.
3.Ani Cretu: So, for nothing, we try to treat the effects – diabetes, allergies, gastrointestinal problems, arthritis, immune diseases, because their cause remains there. From your research, when did this huge wave of chronic inflammation begin? (I ask this because our grandparents and parents say that in their past there were not so many diseases and so many sick people. Are they right?)
Dr Paul Clayton: Your grandparents are right. The figures show that the frequency of almost al the degenerative diseases is increasing, and the latency falling -ie, they are occurring in progressively younger groups of patients. One period that has been intensively studied is mid-Victorian England, from 1850 – 1895. They lived about as long as we do but had relatively little degenerative disease, because they ate a very anti-inflammatory diet.
4.Ani Cretu: Dr. Clayton, I work with teenagers. I meet them daily and jokingly tell them a great truth: „Come on, tired generation stand up!” It is true that this segment of the population is daily in shopping malls for fast food and drinks…. What effect will this have on future generations?
Dr. Paul Clayton: There are plenty of teenagers who are bright, creative and, by the way, our future. But too many of them seem fragile, both physically and emotionally, and there is plenty of evidence that they are being damaged by the terrible diet we have created for them. I doubt they will live as long as we will, or be as healthy. To add to the worry, the science of epigenetics suggests that their children may be even less healthy. We may even be seeing a degree of ‘negative’ evolutionary shift, the ongoing reductions in average intelligence and in viable sperm counts do not “augur” well.
5.Ani Cretu: How can we get out of this circle where we all entered, the circle of fire that consumes our health on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, financial? Is there a magic recipe?
Dr Paul Clayton: Governments typically tell us to stop smoking, lose weight, eat less processed meats and more fruits and vegetables. This is OK as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. I would add, stop eating processed foods and learn to cook with basic seasonal produce. And if you want to go to the next level and supplement, supplement with omega 3 HUFA’s and the lipophillic polyphenols that normally accompany them; blended prebiotic fibers; and a broad spectrum micro- and phyto-nutrient support.
6.Ani Crețu: I know that you have been working for a long time in researching and marketing supplements to help reduce and stop this inflammatory process that our bodies have. Is there, therefore, the possibility of our entering the equilibrium zone? If so, how?
Dr Paul Clayton: I know that this can be done, and I know this from the many tens of thousands of people currently using the regimes I designed. Typically, I see inflammatory processes slow and then stop; and when they do, the symptoms caused by the inflammation go away. In almost all cases medication useage can be reduced, and many cases become drug-free.
7.Ani Cretu: Dr. Clayton, how important is it that, in addition to the radical change in the way we feed, we consume a supplement that rebalances the body? And why?
Dr. Paul Clayton:The modern diet leaves us profoundly out of balance. It gives us an excessive omega 6:3 ratio, and leave us depleted in polyphenols and prebiotics, over-full with calories yet depleted in most micro- and phyto-nutrients. This causes chronic inflammation and Type B malnutrition, a combination that in turn causes degenerative disease and early death; there are huge amounts of data to prove this. Doctors are trained to use drugs to suppress the symptoms of these diseases, an approach which is entirely non-curative and is often very toxic. Of course the patient’s symptoms must be controlled, if possible, but symptomatic management should always be combined with pharmaconutritional support programs to resolve the roots of the problem.
8.Ani Cretu: As the mother of a child with allergies, as the voice of many mothers of children with allergies, I have an important question: is it possible to help our children by reballancing them? Is there a product or products to help them?
*In Romania there is a growing alarming wave of allergic people, of very young children with multiple allergies.
Dr. Paul Clayton: In a word, yes. There are some nutrients that re-balance the TH1:TH2 ratio, which is a profoundly anti-allergy effect and may be enough on its own to bring the allergy under control. If you add the right anti-inflammatory nutrients, you see further benefits. In some cases you might want to add a mast cell stabilising agent (there are polyphenols which do this). I have seen some very serious allergy cases go into complete remission with this approach.
9.Ani Crețu: Dr. Clayton, I know you work on a particular product … I suggest you tell me if it is right for my child and me?
I promise to come back with feed-back about our medical condition, mine and my son Adan’s, both to you and especially to the crowd of mothers who are tired and tormented by children’s health problems.
Dr Paul Clayton:Can you tell me more about your health, and that of your child? Tell me too about your diet and lifestyle. I would want to know a good deal more about your situation before making any recommendations!
*N.A. I sent a mail to Dr Clayton explaining the medical situation and now we both are (me and my son) on his coordination regarding our diet and supplements. I will come back soon with details and feed-back)
10.Ani Crețu: If you were to give us some advice, what would that be?
Dr. Paul Clayton:The bulk of what I would advise is in my answer to your question 5. But I could add, try to be mindful, aware of what your environment is doing to you and what effect you are having on others in turn. Try to be kind, try to understand – but not necessarily forgive – the unconstructive or maladaptive behaviour of those around you. Try to be honest with yourself, and with others. I have not lived a perfect life, far from it, and what I regret most are the occasions when I have not lived up to those rules.
11.Ani Cretu: I want to thank you for the interview and I invite you to come to Romania! There are many of us here who want to learn how to get in and keep our balance.
Btw: Your book „Out Of Fire” is in my bag every day.
Dr. Paul Clayton: You are very kind, and far less critical of my work than I am myself! It is always a work in progress. I have visited Romania several times, and it made a lasting impression on me. Much to love and much to wonder at. I would love to come back, and in fact I will be in Romania in the second half of October.
***For those who know too little about clay, acces the impressive CV.
To my readers, I wish you all the best!
what do you think?
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