Health

Muscle loss during short-term fasting

July 3, 2015

(Part 2 of 3 in series, Ned Kock's "Health Correlator")

When the body is running short on glycogen, it becomes increasingly reliant on fat as a source of energy, sparing muscle tissue. That is, it burns fat, often in the form of ketone bodies, which are byproducts of fat metabolism. This state is known as ketosis. There is evidence that ketosis is a more efficient state from a metabolic perspective (Taubes, 2007, provides a good summary), which may be why many people feel an increase in energy when they fast.

~ Ned Kock from, http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/01/muscle-loss-during-short-term-fasting.html

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Exercise is the least important part of the equation

July 2, 2015

I looked at him and smiled and said, “Okay, then don’t exercise. Let’s deal with that a few months from now.” He replied with a face that looked something like this, and asked how I could possibly not recommend he start exercising if he wanted to lose weight.

My reply was simple: “I’m not interested in getting you to lose the most weight as quickly as possible. I’m interested in helping you get healthier, permanently.”

~ Steve Kamb from, http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/03/09/why-exercise-is-the-least-important-part-of-the-equation-and-a-camp-nerd-fitness-update/

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HIT improves… your body’s sugar handling?

June 27, 2015

(Part 3 of 14 in series, John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health")

In this particular study, individuals engaging in the ‘high intensity interval training’ (HIT) sprinted on a exercise bike with maximum effort for 30 seconds at a time with 4 mins of rest in between. 6 sessions were performed over a two-week period, with 4-6 ‘sprints’ in each session. I was interested to read a recently published study which used an identical exercise schedule. The focus here was not on fitness benefits, but on the impact HIT might have on individuals’ ability to handle sugar.

~ John Briffa from, http://www.drbriffa.com/2009/01/30/short-bursts-of-high-intensity-activity-found-to-improve-bodys-ability-to-handle-sugar/

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How to get rid of gallstones without surgery

June 21, 2015

(Part 25 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

He replied that although the drug did dissolve gallstones, it didn’t treat whatever the underlying problem was causing the gallstones in the first place. Patients who took the drug, got rid of their stones, but as soon as they went off the drug, the stones redeveloped. He said the only effective permanent treatment of gallstones was to remove the gallbladder.

Over the next few years of my medical education, I learned this was the common wisdom on dissolving gallstones. It can be done, but what’s the point? The stones will simply come back.

Turns out, however, that there may well be a way to avoid surgery, get rid of gallstones and, most importantly, keep them gone.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-diets/get-rid-gallstones-without-surgery/

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8,000 at 20

June 8, 2015

(Part 2 of 14 in series, John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health")

Memorize this: “8,000 at 20”

That is: “8,000 steps at a 20-minute-mile walking pace.” I’ll explain below, but first…

The researchers involved in this study then looked at what levels of activity appeared to be associated with BENEFITS for PHYSICAL and MENTAL health. What they found was that improved physical health was seen in individuals taking 8,000 steps a day at [a certain] intensity.

The threshold above which there was an associated benefit for MENTAL health was lower: only 4,000 steps a day at [a certain] intensity.

~ John Briffa from, http://www.drbriffa.com/2009/06/05/walking-may-be-ideal-exercise-as-we-age/

It’s not about how far you walk; Don’t worry about how long your legs are. It’s about how hard you are working when you walk. Basically, you need to do the steps at a level of exertion that is roughly 3 times you base metabolic rate; That is to say, the rate at which your body burns energy when you are sitting still doing nothing. The intensity this research points at is roughly a 20-minute-mile walking pace for average height/legs. This is faster than “I’m strolling” but well below “I’m late! speed walking”.

Just go walk for 45 minutes every day.

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What causes allergies and autoimmune disease?

May 15, 2015

The agent of our immunological misery is the disappearance of something we co-evolved with in a mutually beneficial relationships: microbes and parasites that have lived inside our bodies for millennia.

This new hypothesis is brilliantly summarized in a recent book by Moises Velasquez-Manoff: An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Disease.

~ Todd Becker from, http://gettingstronger.org/2013/03/what-causes-allergies-and-autoimmune-disease/

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Boosting your adaptive reserves

May 2, 2015

Heart rate variability turns out to be a generalized, deep measure of health. That’s because higher HRV is a strong indicator of resilience to stress, while low HRV is a sign of reduced capacity to tolerate stress. And at the deepest level, health is resilience, and diseases in various ways compromise resilience.

~ Todd Becker from, http://gettingstronger.org/2014/07/track-your-hrv-to-boost-adaptive-reserves/

This is a REALLY good article on understanding heart rate variability. Turns out, the MORE your heart rate varies — in terms of the variation of the timing from one beat to the next — the more that indicates good cardiovascular health. I found that idea to be counter-intuitive. I would have guessed, wrongly, that the more regular the heart beats were, the better.

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FitBit Charge HR

April 29, 2015

(Part 16 of 72 in series, My Journey)

I’m working with a friend of mine — Mike Bowyer — on a designed, intentional, training program. One of the critical components is working for specific times in very particular heart rate zones. So I’ve bitten the bullet, and am trying a FitBit. Online commentary seems to be that it’s not super-accurate, but I’m hoping it will do at least an ‘ok’ job of thoroughly recording heart rate during — saw this coming didn’t you? — parkour activities.

…until I smash it on a brick.

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Metabolism and ketosis

April 10, 2015

(Part 13 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

If you read any medical school biochemistry textbook, you’ll find a section devoted to what happens metabolically during starvation. If you read these sections with a knowing eye, you’ll realize that everything discussed as happening during starvation happens during carbohydrate restriction as well. There have been a few papers published recently showing the same thing: the metabolism of carb restriction = the metabolism of starvation. I would maintain, however, based on my study of the Paleolithic diet, that starvation and carb restriction are simply the polar ends of a continuum, and that carb restriction was the norm for most of our existence as upright walking beings on this planet, making the metabolism of what biochemistry textbook authors call starvation the ‘normal’ metabolism.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/

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Inflammation and intermittent fasting

April 4, 2015

(Part 12 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

These posts, particularly the one on inflammation, inspired a host of questions on whether intermittent fasting decreases inflammation. Based on my knowledge of the medical literature on inflammation and intermittent fasting I’m pretty sure that it does. A recent paper presents data indicating that it indeed does.

The April 2007 issue of Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism includes an article on the positive changes in inflammatory markers brought about by the intermittent fasting Muslims undergo during Ramadan.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/intermittent-fasting/inflammation-and-intermittent-fasting/

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Metabolic advantage

March 29, 2015

(Part 11 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

Instead of looking at the equation as one that can be driven only from the right side, let’s look at it from the position that it may be driven from the left. What if the change in weight drove the amount of calories eaten and the amount of caloric energy dissipated? I can think of one situation where the equation makes perfect sense looked at that way.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/karl-popper-metabolic-advantage-and-the-c57bl6-mouse/

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Eat grass-fed beef

March 23, 2015

(Part 10 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

Feedlot operators basically pack cattle together in close quarters in which they stand or lie in manure all day, feed them an unnatural diet that changes the environment within their digestive systems, make them sick, treat them with antibiotics to fight the infections such conditions cause, add growth hormones to increase weight gain a little more, and ultimately slaughter them. Most of the beef you buy has suffered this fate. Even the beef that ends up labeled ‘Organic’ pretty much goes through the same process except it gets fed ‘organic’ grain and doesn’t get the antibiotics or the hormones, which is an improvement for you but not much of one for the cow. The meat from these cattle can still be contaminated since the majority of the E. coli arises as a function of grain feeding.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/good-eating/another-reason-to-eat-grass-fed-beef/

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What is the glycemic index?

March 17, 2015

(Part 9 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

Scientists have known for years that normal blood sugars follow this kind of rapid increase, slow return to normal curve. At some point someone asked the question: do different foods cause a different curve? In other words, if someone eats a piece of cake does that make a different blood sugar curve than if that person eats a bowl of ice cream?

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/metabolism/what-is-the-glycemic-index/

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Fast way to better health

March 11, 2015

(Part 8 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

When researchers restrict the caloric intake of a group of lab animals to about 30 to 40 percent of that of their ad libitum (all they want to eat) fed counterparts, they find that the calorically restricted animals live 30 percent or so longer, don’t develop cancers, diabetes, heart disease, or obesity. These calorically restricted (CR) animals have low blood sugar levels, low insulin levels, good insulin sensitivity, low blood pressure and are, in general, much healthier than the ad lib fed animals.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/intermittent-fasting/fast-way-to-better-health/

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How does life fat thee?

March 5, 2015

(Part 7 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

A group of scientists from multiple institutions looked at a number of other reasons that we could be in the midst of an obesity epidemic that have nothing to do with diet and exercise, or as they call them, the Big Two. They make the case in an paper published online in advance of print in the International Journal of Obesity that so many have so fully accepted the Big Two that pretty much no one has bothered to look for any other causes.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/how-does-life-fat-thee-let-me-count-the-ways/

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