Craig Constantine

Choline and Fatty Liver →

Published November 1, 2016 · All posts on Nov 1 · Health

This entry is part 9 of 12 in the series Stephan Guyenet's "Whole Health Source"

Choline is an essential nutrient that’s required for the transport of fat out of the liver. NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) can be caused, and cured, simply by removing or adding dietary choline, and it appears to be dominant over other dietary factors including fat, sugar and alcohol. Apparently, certain researchers have been aware of this for some time, but it hasn’t entered into the mainstream consciousness.
~ Stephan Guyenet from, Choline and Fatty Liver

slip:4uboco1.

Choline? I don’t think I’ve even heard of Choline. *sigh* Another new thing to learn about…

Exercise boosts the metabolism? It seems the reverse might be true →

Published October 29, 2016 · All posts on Oct 29 · Health

This entry is part 10 of 14 in the series John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health"

However, he went on to talk about a mechanisms here that came as quite a surprise to the audience, I think: aerobic exercise can suppress the metabolic rate. We’re often told that exercise not only increases calorie burn while we’re exercising, and also for some time after. It turns out, that may well not be the case for many people. In fact, according to research, the opposite is quite likely to be the case.
~ John Briffa from, «http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/06/15/exercise-boosts-the-metabolism-it-seems-the-reverse-might-be-true/»

slip:4udiee1.

Metabolism, and the human body in general, is very complicated. Excercise turns out to not function AT ALL the way I thought it did. I thought you could just “excercise more” to burn a few hundred extra calories a week and VOILA! L’SKINNY. Nope. Exercise is great! Good for your health, etc. But, at the quantities I do, it is not the driver of my weight loss.

Meanwhile, I’ve spent about 5 years now actively learning about food, biology, health, fitness, chemistry and more… and I’m still convinced I know very little. :/

The big sleep →

Published October 28, 2016 · All posts on Oct 28 · Health

This entry is part 8 of 12 in the series Stephan Guyenet's "Whole Health Source"

The term “adrenal fatigue”, which refers to the aforementioned disturbance in cortisol rhythm, is characterized by general fatigue, difficulty waking up in the morning, and difficulty going to sleep at night. It’s a term that’s commonly used by alternative medical practitioners but not generally accepted by mainstream medicine, possibly because it’s difficult to demonstrate and the symptoms are fairly general. Robb Wolf talks about it in his book The Paleo Solution.
~ Stephan Guyenet from, The Big Sleep

slip:4ubobi1.

I yap about sleep a lot, for a very good reason. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:

Improving my sleep was the single most important thing I’ve ever done for my health. The first small improvements in sleep led to further steps onward and onward.

Maybe turn off the TV and go to bed →

Published October 24, 2016 · All posts on Oct 24 · Health

This entry is part 9 of 14 in the series John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health"

Six years ago I decided to dramatically reduce the amount of time I spent watching TV, and this single intervention (I believe) had a dramatic effect on my life. It liberated a significant amount of time that I could devote to perhaps more useful and rewarding pursuits. You may be thinking that I’m referring to things like writing or exercise. Actually, I’m referring mainly to sleep.
~ John Briffa from, «http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/07/19/want-to-lose-weight-maybe-turn-off-the-tv-and-go-to-bed/»

slip:4udiwa2.

Sleep — specifically, learning about sleep, fixing my sleeping environment and getting more and better quality sleep — is the SINGLE most important thing I changed in my journey these last few years.

Weight Loss →

Published October 23, 2016 · All posts on Oct 23 · Health

Crabbers never have to worry about crabs escaping when they are caught and thrown into a bucket. This is because if one crab starts climbing the walls of the bucket, the other crabs will pull the escaping crab back down.
~ Brad Pilon from, Crabs in a Bucket – Weight Training Over 50

slip:4ubawe6.

The dirty little secret of the diet-heart hypothesis →

Published October 20, 2016 · All posts on Oct 20 · Health

This entry is part 7 of 12 in the series Stephan Guyenet's "Whole Health Source"

The diet-heart hypothesis is the idea that saturated fat, and in some versions cholesterol, raises blood cholesterol and contributes to the risk of having a heart attack. To test this hypothesis, scientists have been studying the relationship between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk for more than half a century. What have these studies found?
~ Stephan Guyenet from, The Dirty Little Secret of the Diet-Heart Hypothesis

slip:4ubodi2.

The body fat setpoint, Part II: Mechanisms of fat gain →

Published October 19, 2016 · All posts on Oct 19 · Health

This entry is part 6 of 12 in the series Stephan Guyenet's "Whole Health Source"

Body fat produces a hormone called leptin, which signals to the brain and other organs to decrease appetite, increase the metabolic rate and increase physical activity. More fat means more leptin, which then causes the extra fat to be burned. The little glitch is that some people become resistant to leptin, so that their brain doesn’t hear the fat tissue screaming that it’s already full. Leptin resistance nearly always accompanies obesity, because it’s a precondition of significant fat gain.
~ Stephan Guyenet from, The Body Fat Setpoint, Part II: Mechanisms of Fat Gain

slip:4ubobo1.

This part of his series is short and non-technical. But his whole series is, probably, the greatest explanation of why one gets fat which I have ever read.

Is obesity all in the mind? →

Published October 18, 2016 · All posts on Oct 18 · Health

This entry is part 8 of 14 in the series John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health"

My position, and that of a growing number of researchers, is that there’s more to obesity than calorie balance, and that body weight and fat mass is regulated by a complex system that involves an array of hormones and feedback mechanisms.
In recent months I’ve become interested in the potential role of a hormone by the name of leptin in obesity.
~ John Briffa from, «http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/03/10/is-obesity-all-in-the-mind/»

slip:4udiio1.

It’s not “in the mind” in the sense that you can imagine your way to weight loss. But there’s definitely MORE to weight loss than the balance of calories. My experience is that the best way to lose weight is to simply reduce my calorie intakes slightly — no need to count everything and aim for a computed target intake. At the same time, include some strength training (a ton is not required, but walking/cardio is NOT what worked for me.)

Animal models of atherosclerosis: LDL →

Published October 15, 2016 · All posts on Oct 15 · Health

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series Stephan Guyenet's "Whole Health Source"

The bottom line is that experimental models of atherosclerosis appear to rely on overloading herbivorous species with dietary cholesterol that they are not equipped to clear. SFA does exacerbate the increase in LDL caused by cholesterol overload. But in the absence of excess cholesterol, it does not necessarily raise LDL even in species ill-equipped to digest these types of fats. Dietary cholesterol has a modest effect on LDL cholesterol in humans, and it has even less effect on LDL particle number, a more important measure. So there may not be a cholesterol overload for saturated fat to exacerbate in humans.
~ Stephan Guyenet from, Animal Models of Atherosclerosis: LDL

slip:4uboai5.

In the context of actual amounts that you can actually consume (animal studies feed cholesterol to herbivores as if you eat 20+ eggs EVERY day) there is no evidence (not in animal studies and certainly not in human studeis) that cholesterol and saturated fat cause atherosclerosis. If you think eating cholesterol or saturated fat is bad, I hope you’ll investigate where you obtained that knowledge, and look into the factual basis of that knowledge. If you’re avoiding cholesterol and saturated fat, what are you replacing it with?

It looks like our ancient ancestors ate a low-carb diet →

Published October 14, 2016 · All posts on Oct 14 · Health

This entry is part 7 of 14 in the series John Briffa's "A Good Look at Good Health"

Official recommendations are normally that about 60 per cent of the calories we consume should come from carbohydrate. That’s actually higher than the most carbohydrate-rich hunter-gatherer diet of all, and about three times the average carbohydrate percentage in such diets. The authors of this study conclude, ‘…the range of energy intake from carbohydrates in the diets of most hunter-gatherer societies was markedly different (lower) from the amounts currently recommended for healthy humans.’
~ John Briffa from, «http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/10/11/it-looks-like-our-ancient-ancestors-ate-a-low-carb-diet/»

slip:4udiio2.

Not “low carb” as in some wacky, extremist diet. I’d prefer to call it a “normal carb diet” where you simply try to get your carbs from tubors, fruits and veggies, not from added sugars and refined grains.