Category Archives: Diet And Food

If you havent seen it thrown around Reddit, you might have heard itballyhooed by a gym bro: ketosis just works, bro! You get to eat all the bacon and cream you can stomach, shred fat, maintain muscle, and still dominate your sport.

The very, very high-fat ketogenic diet is one of the hottest trends in nutrition, but while there are some success stories in endurance athletes, theres very little evidence in strength sports. It may be delicious, but is it a smart pick for your next meet?

Your body kicks into ketosis when carbohydrate intake is so low that the body doesnt want to use it as a fuel source. Typically, that happens when fat makes up 60 to 70 percent of overall calories, protein 20 to 30 percent, and carbs are under 50 grams per day. It usually takes less than a day for your body to start producing ketones for fuel a sure sign is when when your breath starts to smell of acetone, a ketosis by-product. (Incidentally, it kind of stinks. Like a mixture of fruit and nail polish remover, in which acetone is a key ingredient.)

If you look at one of the main fuels the body can burn, carbohydrates and fat are the main two, and a layer down are the sort of subfuels, lactate and ketones, says Dr. Mike T. Nelson, CSCS, an adjunct professor at the Carrick Institute whose PhD focused on metabolic flexibility.

Historically, ketones have not shown up in the body in enough quantities for the body to use unless youre in starvation, he explains. But you can get there via whats called a ketogenic diet. When you do that, your body will start producing ketones, which can then be used for fuel. Then youre in a state of ketosis.

Though first suggested as a therapeutic tool by the Mayo Clinic in the 1920s, it wasnt until the late 20th century that ketosis gained popularity as a tool to treat epilepsy and other brain disorders. Some research has shown that more than half of children with epilepsy who go on the diet experience at least fifty percent fewer seizures.

Thats always been its main use: therapeutic. Theres also some shakier evidence that it can help the body to fight cancerous tumors and prevent diabetes.

Its benefits like these that have spurred some corners of the health and fitness industry to try and stay in ketosis in their day-to-day lives. (Tim Ferriss has claimed it helped to cure him of Lyme disease, and he continues to cycle ketogenic phases to this day.)

It may also help folks to burn more fat while retaining muscle. Naturally, its this possibility that causedsix pack aficionadosto perk up and the diet to spread like wildfire. From there came communities like Ketogains, where some members can be found swearing up and down that all but eliminating carbs increases performance and aesthetics to unprecedented levels.

The problem is that while theres some evidence that ketosis may not be detrimental for some endurance athletes, theres very, very little clinical evidence as to whether or not it can benefit strength athletes.

But we know enough about how the body uses different energy systems to have a pretty good idea.

The short answer: low reps.

Since we dont have a lot of direct data, you have to ask what energy source are strength athletes using? says Nelson. If we look at Olympic lifting and powerlifting, its extremely explosive power, the duration of time is very short, so its primarily the ATP-CP energy system. So, ketosis in those athletes may be OK because theyre typically doing brief high output with pretty long rest periods.

He explains that if youre keeping sets at between roughly one and three reps with long rest periods of three to five minutes, this may be long enough to regenerate the ATP levels (a method of intracellular energy transfer) even if youre in ketosis.

So I would say keto is OK not great but its OK during peaking phases where volume is very low and youre having a very high intensity effort as opposed to high volume, says Dr. Mike Israetel, an assistant professor of nutrition, exercise science, and public health at Temple University and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization. The higher the total volume of work you perform in training, the more youre going to rely on glycogen and carbohydrate to potentiate that performance. In strength sports, because the work is typically not as high in duration, people can get away with lower carbs in general.

Functional fitness, strongman, and anything with high volume.

The higher the volume of training, the worse keto starts to perform, Israetel continues, saying that he would even caution against it for sets of more than six reps. CrossFit is maybe the worst category of sports for which you should try to do keto. Its an incredibly terrible mismatch.

This is because functional fitness athletes do high volumes of training and a lot of work around the lactate threshold. When exercising at a high intensity for between one and three minutes, the body primarily uses the glycolytic energy system which as the name suggests runs off of glucose. If youre in ketosis, your glycolytic system isnt running properly and your performance suffers.

Whats interesting is that ketogenic folks dont necessarily have low glycogen levels in their muscles. Remember that almost all the studies on ketogenic training have been performed on endurance athletes, and when theyre highly adapted, the glycogen levels in the muscles are often fine.

The issue is that if youre in ketosis and your body thinks it needs to be running on ketones, you may not be able to use those stored carbohydrates effectively. Even if your body has all the pieces to run its glycolytic system, it wont. (At least not well.)

Its an access issue, not the amount thats being stored, says Nelson. Its like a gas tanker truck being pulled over at the side of the road because its out of gas. Its not like theres no gas in the tanker truck, its that theres no direct line to the engine.

While the volume is typically a little lower, the same rules apply for strongman: its a sport that typically requires thirty to ninety seconds of more or less continuous output, which means its an energy system that runs best on carbs.

As the events turn from the shorter events to the longer events like stone loading, log for reps, deadlift for reps, you would pay for ketosis, says Israetel. Youll have a couple of reps missed on everything. Its not recommended for performance.

Endurance runners can sometimes manage well on ketosis because their sport is performed at a relatively low intensity, so an athlete can have some pretty decent performance using ketones as fuel. But while that may be true, there are still no world-class ultramarathoners who dont eat carbs.

Its also important to note that while it may facilitate fat loss, ketosis is probably lousy for muscle gain. Thats in part because insulin, despite misconceptions that it should be minimized at all costs, is actually highly anabolic.

In bodybuilding circles where low-carb diets like keto are the most popular, youll see an interesting relationship where theyre very popular but only in fat loss stages, says Israetel. But in muscle gain phases, very few bodybuilders stay on low carbs.

In some corners of the fitness world, runners will train in ketosis to help their bodies better learn to use fat stores for energy and then, right before an race, theyll consume a huge serving of carbohydrates. The idea is that the athlete will then be able to efficiently use both forms of fuel, and while its a nice theory, it doesnt really hold up in practice.

Research[1][6] didnt see much of a performance change, and thats probably because they gave them a whole ton of carbohydrates while the machinery to effectively use them was impaired, says Nelson, who notes that the right enzymes to effectively use carbohydrates were not present in high enough amounts. It probably takes at least a couple of days and maybe a few weeks before those enzymes are back up and running at full steam.

Ketosis makes an athlete more effective at using fat stores for energy while making him or her less efficient at using carbohydrates for energy. But in his clients (and yes, this is anecdotal), Nelson has found that a good way to produce an athlete who is efficient at using both forms of fuel is intermittent fasting.

We know that ability to use fat during rest and low intensity exercise is highly variable, ranging from 23 to 93 percent [4], he says. So some can use it much more effectively than others[2][3]. If I think someones ability to use fat is impaired, Ill have them do periods of fasting of up to twenty-four hours or even longer to get that acute change in fat use without messing up their ability to use carbohydrates to the highest degree, he says.

He has his clients do long, slow, aerobic fasted training once or even twice per day in order to minimize insulin and train their bodies to use fat as much as possible without producing the kind of enzyme changes seen in ketogenic athletes that can reduce the ability to use carbohydrates. I can give them carbs the very next day and they can still use them to a high degree, he continues. So Im not screwing up their ability to do strength and power type activities.

People have been looking for the unique benefits of cutting carbohydrates out for a long time, and outside of some benefits in diseased populations, epileptics etc. there s just no benefits, it just wont happen, says Israetel. Not surprisingly, theres no big potentiation effect in anything when you remove something from your diet. So I think that situation with keto is, can it work in some places where its not terrible? Yes. Is it an enhancer? Ive never seen anything it enhances outside of some disease conditions.

We love bacon as much as the next person, but maybe dont forget the home fries.

Continue reading here:
Does the Ketogenic Diet Work for Strength Training? - BarBend (blog)

Face the new season with a spring in your step as Kirsty Jewson, of Saks Beauty Northallerton, reveals some of the best beauty treatments

After the ravages of winter, skin doesn't so much need a spring clean as a big dollop of tlc. And to help restore it ready for the season ahead, Saks Beauty Northallerton is offering 20 per cent off everything on its beauty menu during March.

As skin makes the transition from blasts of cold and heaters on high to the first signs of spring, its still in survival mode and needs extra attention," says salon owner Kirsty Jewson. "Our advanced menu has something for skin conditions, ageing well and indulgent relaxation.We adopt a fully-integrated approach, offering a selection of appropriate, award-winning, medically-evidenced treatments, delivered by therapists trained to Level 4 in our award-winning beauty salon.

Kirsty recommends these six top skin treatments and products from the experts to get your skin back into shape:

DERMALUX LED. This award-winning light therapy treatment has been scientifically developed to deliver optimised doses of therapeutic light for healthier, brighter skin, cleaning up common skin conditions and boosting vitamin D and serotonin levels. This is the perfect all-round facial wellness treatment in 20 minutes and can be integrated with other facials, peels and treatments on the menu.

DERMA-ROLLERING SKIN REJUVENATION. Micro-needling is one of the safest and most effective ways of rejuvenating the skin. Micro needles stimulate the skin to regenerate and repair itself naturally and safely, creating smoother, brighter, younger and healthier looking skin. It's a must-have treatment for those seeking a serious skin change.

REACH FOR YOUR SPF. We advocate using SPF all year round and it is even more crucial as we head into warmer, lighter months. Our firm favourite remains Hydrate+ from CosMedix, a light moisturiser packed with antioxidants and broad spectrum physical filters against UVA & UVB using zinc oxide. When checking ingredients, ditch the chemical filters and opt for physical to protect the skin from two major aggressors: free radicals and ultraviolet rays.

NATURES BEST: BLUEBERRIES. This superfood contains more antioxidants than any other fruit, with Vitamin A, B, C and E, and is amazing for younger-looking, glowing skin. Enjoy further benefits by choosing the CosMedix Blueberry smoothie facial, which combines powerful antioxidants with lactic acid for great exfoliation, revealing fresher, clearer skin without any irritation.

BODY CONTOURING. 3D-LIPO is a non surgical treatment for fat removal and skin tightening, and is great for those wanting to eradicate loose pockets of skin from excessive weight loss and and stubborn fat or a post-baby tum that wont shift with diet and exercise.

GLOWING SKIN. Not forgetting that a bit of glamour goes a long way to making your day, Saks Northallerton customers love cult tanning brand Xen-Tan for three reasons: the natural olive glow, the skin-friendly ingredients, and the fact that you dont have to sleep in it. It can be showered off in three hours

Read the rest here:
Get set for spring at Saks Beauty, Northallerton - The Northern Echo (registration)

Twice these birds have been near extinction but have fought their way back to healthy numbers

It happens more often then you might think. A heavy snowfall, cold temperatures, and boredom unite to create (in me) a giant case of writers block.

The only cure for that obscene mixture is to grab one of my scientific journals and check out the latest research on some interesting critter.

For instance, did you know that the brown pelican was driven to the brink of extinction twice! It seems that, back in the late 19th century real feathers were the only thing worthy of adorning ladys hats and clothing. And exotic birds, from egrets and herons to eagles, storks and pelicans, were the targets of choice. Nothing in Audubons world was safe from the market hunters sights. The slaughter was utterly horrendous, with whole rookeries being wiped out in a single nights massacre.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, along with strong enforcement efforts, helped to stop that situation, and the birds began a slow but steady recovery. But then came another more insidious threat in the form of insecticide poisons including or similar to DDT. Eagles and other fish-eating birds were hardest hit. But in 1972 those poisons were outlawed. The following year the Endangered Species Act was passed. And dozens of bird species, including the brown pelican, once again were given the opportunity to survive and thrive.

And lest we forget, on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island in Florida was declared to be the first of a long list of national wildlife refuges by President Theodore Roosevelt. During 1905 and again in 1908, game wardens protecting the birds on that and other nearby nesting islands were killed by feather poachers. And the feather war was on, but soon died out as the fashions changed.

Today the brown pelican can be found along coastal regions from New York to the Texas Mexican border and south from there along the Mexican, Central and South American coasts. It is also found along the Pacific coasts in many areas. Both males and females assist in the egg brooding chores by standing on the eggs. The heat from their feet does the incubation work.

Their population continues to increase. This species has become so numerous that it was delisted from the Endangered Species Act in 2009. And even though it is the smallest of the eight pelican species, it is still a large bird. It sports a wingspan in excess of six feet, and its overall length is a shade over four feet (average), including its overly long bill.

Oh, and if you might be wondering about the diet of these birds, wonder no more. They eat primarily small schooling fish. But their fishing method is somewhat unique. They dive from heights of 60 feet or more, stunning the small fish and allowing the pelicans to scoop some of them up in their pouch along with about two and a half gallons of water.

But just because minnows are inside the birds pouch does not yet mean dinner is served. Gulls often come a calling to steal some small fish right out of the pouch. It is not uncommon to see a gull sitting on a pelicans head while stealing food right out of its mouth.

There are two species of pelicans in North America, the brown and the white. The whites are primarily found on fresh water rivers and lakes, while the browns are more coastal and usually fish in salt or brackish water. And unlike many human couples, brown pelicans share parental duties. The male brings nesting materials and the female arranges them to her liking.

Brown pelicans are truly unique birds in many different ways. And now their population is both adequate and diversely spread, all but assuring their continued species expansion. As long as humans leave them alone to do their own thing we can expect to see them in impressive numbers in the future.

* * *

Here is a conundrum of sorts for which there may not be any clear-cut answers. Research has shown that large deer populations, which have long been the bane of many humans including insurance companies and automobile drivers, is also hurting some songbird species. Yes, more deer may directly result in fewer songbirds with certain nesting requirements.

It appears that some bird species need short vegetation for their nesting and foraging requirements. Much of that low-lying vegetation is prime fodder for deer. But too many deer feeding on those grasses and tender spring shoots can cause havoc for nesting birds.

This study is based on scientific evidence, not just theory. Two areas were researched, extending from coastal Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley. And multiple years of data were collected.

There was a substantial over-population of deer in the coastal Virginia research area and a well-regulated herd in the Shenandoah area. And the research team found far fewer songbird species, such as hooded warblers, white-eyed vireos and the prairie warbler, where they found increases in the number of deer.

This is actually the third similar study of this kind, and all three have clearly indicated the same general data. More deer (overpopulated) in any given area will adversely impact the ground-nesting songbirds in that area. And, since different songbird species were studied in each of these projects and every studied species was directly impacted by the deer, it can be safely deduced that all species of ground-nesting birds are or will be adversely impacted if the deer population is permitted to increase much beyond the accepted carrying capacity.

Is there any solution to this problem? Probably not. Areas with too many deer most often got that way due to changing conditions within the human community. Suburban sprawl combined with changing human attitudes toward deer harvesting is probably the most common reason for ground-nesting songbird decline.

The likelihood of that situation changing is slim. Chances are that nothing short of a major catastrophe of some kind will change existing human nature in any way.

Len Lisenbee is the Daily Messengers Outdoor Writer. Contact him at lisenbee@frontiernet.net.

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Lisenbee: Pelicans prover they're a hearty bunch - MPNnow.com

Calving season either has started or is just around the corner. Although first-calvers represent your future brood cows, they require more labor, higher quality feeds, and they reward your efforts by weaning the lightest group of calves in the herd.

This is temporary, because, if we have done our homework with due diligence, they will reward us by being productive cows for a long time.

One of the challenges is providing a high-quality diet to these females after calving. In many situations, the energy needs are not met, and the first-calf female loses weight and body condition from the time of calving to the start of the breeding season.

The pounds of protein or energy needed by the first-calf female compared to a mature cow at the same stage of gestation or lactation are not all that different. However, the percent of the diet that needs to be protein or energy between these two groups of females is different.

The difference is because of the amount of feed/forage they can eat. The mature cow can eat more feed compared to the younger female.

For this reason, beginning at least three weeks before calving, first-calvers need to be managed and fed separate from the mature cows. Research from the University of Nebraska reported indicates a first-calf-heifer within three weeks of calving experiences a 17 percent decrease in daily feed intake.

These data further illustrate the need to separate first-calf-heifers from mature cows beginning at least three weeks before the start of the calving season and illustrate that nutrient density of the diet has to be high because intake is restricted. Intake is re-established to more normal levels by about one week post-calving.

The first-calf-females post-calving need to consume a diet that is at least 62 percent TDN and 10 percent to 11 percent crude protein, depending on level of milk production. Feeding bermudagrass hay that tests 58 percent TDN and 12 percent crude protein, prairie hay that tests 54 percent TDN and 6.5 percent crude protein, bromegrass hay that is 58 percent TDN and 11 percent crude protein, or early-bloom alfalfa that is 60 percent TDN and 20 percent crude will not meet the first-calf-females energy (TDN) needs, whether feeding individually or in a combination of feeds. Some of these forages will not meet their protein needs. A high energy feed needs to be supplemented. Corn, distillers grains, gluten feed, 20 percent cube, or silage may be good choices. Make sure the protein requirement is met, especially when corn or silage is fed.

In ranch situations, the supplement may be fed on the ground instead of in bunks. Depending on the quality of the hay and the energy content of the supplement, it may take two to three pounds per head per day to meet requirements. Likely there is minimal waste when feeding an energy cube/cake or whole shell corn.

A young beef female poses challenges, but she is the future of your cowherd. Do not short her after calving; especially do not skimp on the energy. She has enough challenges between calving and the beginning of the breeding season. Do not over-feed her, but give her an opportunity to be a productive part of the herd.

Nelson is Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service ag educator for Garfield County.

View original post here:
First-calvers have special diet requirements - Enid News & Eagle

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Posted: Mar 19, 2017 12:01 AM

Recently, I joked about political diets, noting that actress Lena Dunham complained that the soul-crushing pain and devastation and hopelessness of the new Trump presidency had caused her to lose weight.

On the other hand, Barbra Streisand and others in Hollywood claim their unease about President Trump is triggering them to overeat and gain weight.

Then, I compared these Trump-inspired diets to the Maduro Diet.

The Maduro Diet, you ask? Thats the namesake of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro, the socialist successor to the late Hugo Chvez. Maduro is presiding over the complete economic collapse of what, prior to socialism, had long been the richest country in South America.

Nonetheless, last September, President Maduro joked, The Maduro diet, thats the one that makes you tough. You wont even need Viagra now.

In response to the dictators comedic chauvinismo, the Venezuelan newspaper El Estmulo published a list of people who have died in various parts of the country because of the rigors of the diet that bears his name.

Having nothing to eat is felt by the millions, added the paper. A study by More Consulting for the opposition National Assembly says that more than 53 percent of Venezuelans have gone to bed once without trying food thanks to the Maduro diet.

A recent Living Conditions Survey a collaborative effort that included the Andrs Bello Catholic University, the Central University of Venezuela, and the Simn Bolvar University concluded that nearly three in four Venezuelans lost on average 19 pounds in 2016. Consistent malnutrition does mean spectacular levels of weight-loss, of course, and people can decide for themselves about the benefits or lack thereof.

A month ago, the Miami Herald informed that, People have become so desperate, according to biologists and biology students at Zulia University, that they are butchering and eating flamingos.

The Herald also reported: In the citys dump, more evidence of hunger-driven desperation: dismembered dogs, cats, donkeys, horses and pigeons have been found since last year, all skinned or plucked, with signs of having been eaten, according to the citys garbage teams.

Theres no doubt that food shortages are a serious issue in Venezuela, responded TeleSUR, a television network based in Caracas, Venezuela, and funded by the governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. But one should take reports that make kooky unsubstantiated claims about the crisis like alleged flamingo eating with a grain of salt.

If one can find a grain of salt.

TeleSUR alleges that, Wealthy right-wing business owners in Venezuela, especially those in the supermarket industry, are intentionally hoarding food products so they can resell them at higher prices and make large profits. Food importing companies allied with the opposition are also manipulating import figures to raise prices.

Yet, considering the political repression, if there was such evidence, those business owners might join the thousands of Venezuelans being arrested or the hundreds of documented longterm political prisoners, including opposition leader Leopoldo Lpez, who was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison on ridiculously trumped up charges.

Repression and, specifically, systematic politically-motivated incarceration continue to be State policy in Venezuela, states a new report from Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS). Between January 1 and December 31 of 2016, Foro Penal Venezolano documented 2,732 political arrests on charges ranging from having demonstrated in a political protest such as the Toma de Caracas or the Toma de Venezuela to having posted something against the national government or a public official on Twitter.

Mr. Almagro told the Washington Post that his report fully documents the Venezuelan governments abuses, rights violations, curtailment of civil, political and electoral freedoms, poverty, hunger, deprivation of liberty, torture, censorship, and the whole catalogue of violations of political, social and personal dignity. He calls for the suspension of Venezuelas membership in the OAS, which is long overdue.

The Human Rights Foundation called for that nine years ago.

Last year, millions risked government attacks to sign petitions to recall President Maduro, only to see the government refuse to abide by the constitution.

The Obama administration took no serious action, and urged the opponents of the Maduro dictatorship to engage in talks with the regime, a dialogue that predictably wentnowhere. The administrations caution, a Washington Post editorial suggested, may have had more to do with avoiding offense to the regimes last supporter the Castro regime in Cuba with which President Barack Obama was pursuing what he saw as a legacy-making detente.

On the other hand, President Trump has already met with the wife of Leopoldo Lpez, the imprisoned opposition leader, and the U.S. State Department has called for the release of political prisoners, which also include former Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma. Yesterday, another Post editorial urged President Trump to align himself with the OAS chief and with the cause of democracy in Latin America.

Lets hope the Mr. Trump does . . . providing some small assistance that helps lead, hopefully sooner rather than later, to the people of Venezuela eating more . . . and living free.

And perhaps to certain Hollywood socialists eating crow, if not flamingo.

Excerpt from:
Red Venezuela, Pink Flamingos, and the New Hollywood Diet - Townhall

The complexity of the nervous system

Neuroscientist, Sandra Aamodt, has studied the brain during dieting. In her research, she suggests that the brain is hard-wired for survival with a proposed set-range of between ten to fifteen pounds for a healthy weight. This leeway allows for our lifestyle choices to not permanently influence our body's weight.

The hypothalamus is a section in the middle of our brain responsible for production of many essential hormones and chemical substances that help control different organs and cells. It has more than a dozen signals to control weight gain and more than a dozen to lose it.

"The hypothalamus is like a thermostat," she explains in one of her Ted Talks. "It will work to keep weight stable as conditions change so the brain will respond to weight loss by pushing the body back to what it considers normal."

Sandra suggests that these set points can go up when individuals become overweight, but rarely does it go down which is why it is fairly easy to put weight back on following yo-yo dieting.

"It is a lot harder for our hypothalamus to control weight when outside of this range. Having mindful eating behaviours would be a better way for the brain's weight-regulation system to maintain a stable and healthy weight for most people- if allowed to do its job without interference from dieting and other short-sighted slimming strategies."

"Start concentrating on regular exercise, good food choices and stress reduction instead."

So if dieting isn't the best way to go, what should we do instead to lose weight?

Getty Bodo A. Schieren

Yo-yo dieting is probably not your answer- simple. Losing weight should be a lifestyle change, meaning gradual changes that you are able to sustain are a better option. Like the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race.

Eating carbs - such as breads, rice, pasta and refined sugars- would be better when you are more active. This is because these foods require more energy to breakdown into their simple sugars. When you exercise, your metabolism speeds up; breaking down these foods more efficiently without being stored as fat. Changing rate of metabolism may actually be all you need to lose weight.

As diets are often restrictive and repetitive, essential nutrients can be missed. Eating a variety of food is therefore important- it also helps with not getting bored and keeping that mind positively associated to food.

If you know you are going out for a tasty meal or a big celebration where you will be having a glass or two (or three), then make sure you factor this into your daily allowance of calories. This will avoid exceeding calorie intake and storing excess as fat. The odd day wouldn't hurt, but this is often a cause to putting on the pounds when done regularly.

People who exercise are found to lose more weight when dieting. Exercise is an essential part for burning fat, building muscle and manipulating metabolism. So don't forget to get the heart rate up too.

Last tip is to remember that having a healthy mental and physical well-being is essential in reducing weight. Reducing your stress levels and getting plenty of sleep may be your final steps to helping keep off the pounds.

Related Article

A guide to the eating disorders you may not have heard of

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Why diets don't work - NetDoctor - Netdoctor

Which diets are most effective, according to science? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

The obvious question about what diets work best, is are theyeffective for what? Im going to assume we mean most effective at helping us achieve and/or maintain a healthy weight and maximize our health in doing so.

I think diets that make us leaner and healthier are the diets that remove those components of the diet that cause us to get fat and cause the chronic diseases that associate with obesity and diabetes. As I clearly believe the worst offenders there are added sugars (sucrose and HFCS) and then refined, easily digestible carbohydrates, then the most effective diets are the ones that remove the sugars and high-GI carbs. And diets that work, regardless of the fat content, do so because they remove these carbohydrates. Indeed, by merely trying to avoid added sugars as part of a healthy diet, that means well have to avoid virtually all of the processed foods in the grocery stores, which means well be avoiding a significant amount of the other processed carbs, virtually all of the vegetable oils, etc. Well be healthier and we wont even know why or whether I was right that the sugar was the problem.

The flip side of that is my believe that if a diet like Dean Ornishs very low-fat diet works, its primarily because it, too, removes the sugars and white flour (for the same reason I think any diet should). If vegan and vegetarian diets work, or when they work, its for this reason as well.

That said. my reading of the existing clinical trial on diets is that the ideal diets for most of us (who arent necessarily world class athletes trying to enhance their performance) are indeed low-carb, high-fat or at least some variation like the paleo diet. I recognize that these diets will raise LDL cholesterol or LDL particle number in some proportion of the people who eat them, but because they seem to do such an effective job at resolving insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, I would bet that theyre more than worth the trade-off. (Again, if Im wrong, I apologize.)

Ketogenic diets, in which carbs are restricted almost entirely and replaced by fat, clearly have remarkable clinical efficacy in resolving a host of disease states, from obesity and diabetes to epilepsy and perhaps other neurological problems as well. I expect theyd even go a long way to preventing cancer and dementia, but thats speculation and has yet to be rigorously tested in any meaningful way.

This question originally appeared on Quora. -the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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Which Diets Are Most Effective According to Science? - Huffington Post

A moderate reduction in food intake, known as dietary restriction, protects against multiple aging-related diseases and extends life span, but can also suppress growth and fertility. A research group from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne has now developed a diet based on the model organism's genome, which enhances growth and fecundity with no costs to lifespan.

What is the best path to a long and healthy life? Scientists had a relatively simple answer for many years: less food. But it turned out that this could have unpleasant consequences. Experiments showed that putting flies or mice on diet could impair their development and fecundity. How could we take advantage of the beneficial effects of dieting, and at the same time avoid the damaging effects?

Genome-based diet

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing in London have now designed a diet based on the model organism's genome. In the study they calculated the amount of amino acids a fruit fly would need, thereby defining the diet's amino acid composition.

"The fly genome is entirely known. For our studies we used only the sections in the genetic material that serve as templates for protein assembly - the exons, which collectively make up the 'exome.' Then we calculated the relative abundance of each amino acid in the exome, and designed a fly diet that reflects this amino acid composition," explains George Soultoukis, scientist in the department of Linda Partridge, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing in London.

Using a holidic fly diet previously developed by the team to enable manipulation of individual nutrients such as amino acids, the group found that flies eating this exome-matched diet develop a lot faster, grow bigger in size, and lay more eggs compared to flies fed a standard diet. Remarkably, the flies on the exome-matched diet lived as long as slower-growing, fewer-egg-laying flies fed with "standard" diets.

"The flies that had free access to the exome-matched diet even ate less than controls. Thus, high quality protein, as defined by the genome, appears to have a higher satiety value," said Matthew Piper, who conducted the work at UCL and is now working at Monash University.

The study also found that similar phenomena may occur in mice, and future mouse work could further improve our understanding of how and why diets affect mammalian lifespan.

"Our aim now is to characterize the effects of genome-based diets upon mammalian lifespan," says Soultoukis.

Human diet

In theory this approach is applicable to all organisms with a sequenced genome including humans.

"Dietary interventions based on amino acids can be a powerful strategy for protecting human health. Obviously factors such as age, gender, health, and personal lifestyle also have to be taken into account. Future studies may still employ novel -omics data to design diets whose amino acid supply matches the needs of an organism with even higher precision. Understanding why we need amino acids in the amounts we do will be key, and such studies provide novel and powerful insights into the vital interactions between nature and nurture," explains Soultoukis.

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Genome-based Diets Maximize Growth, Fertility, Lifespan - Laboratory Equipment

March 17, 2017

Researchers have discovered that despite meat-heavy diets, low levels of good cholesterol and high levels of inflammation, an indigenous South American tribe has the healthiest hearts ever examined and it might have something to do with parasites in the gut.

Its kind of an exciting paper, said Ben Trumble, co-director of the study and an assistant professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University and affiliated faculty in the Center for Evolution and Medicine, because for a long time we thought pre-industrial groups had lower levels of heart disease. The Tsimane have the lowest levels of plaque in their coronary arteries that weve ever seen.

An 80-year-old Tsimane has heart arteries equal to a 50-year-old American, scientists discovered.

One of the key things about this study is weve always thought populations living these traditional lifestyles had low risk factors, Trumble said, but we were never able to show before that they actually did have these very low levels of atherosclerosis. This is the first time its been shown.

About 90 percent of the Tsimane peoples food comes from hunting, fishing, foraging, and farming. Until two years ago, none of their communities had electricity. None have running water. They live in the Bolivian Amazon with relatively low contact with the rest of Bolivia. Most still speak their traditional language. It takes days to get from villages to towns.

They eat about the same amount of meat that Americans do, but its much leaner, coming from wild animals. The average hunt for a Tsimane man takes five to six hours and ranges up to 10 miles.

But another potential factor for a healthy heart is perhaps surprising: Tsimane have a high parasite -pathogen load.

More than two thirds of Tsimane adults have intestinal ailments, according to Trumble. About 30 percent also have giardia on top of that.

Smoking fish over a fire. Ninety percent of the Tsimane peoples food comes from hunting, fishing, foraging, and farming.Photo by Ben Trumble

That creates a really big burden because intestinal parasites eat the food we eat before we can absorb it, or theyre tapping into our blood streams, stealing the (fats) from our blood, stealing calories, he said.

Some combination of diet, physical activity and the immune system are working together to prevent heart disease, but researchers arent sure how they connect.

The Tsimane have high rates of inflammation, stemming from high exposure to the pathogens and parasites, but not obesity.

Thats what makes this population really interesting to study, Trumble said. You could say, Oh, they get four to seven hours of activity per day, and theyre not eating cheeseburgers, so of course theyre not going to get heart disease. But the thing that makes this population really interesting is that they have such levels of inflammation. Weve always thought of inflammation as this major cause of heart disease. Theyre just getting it from a different source, and its not having any effect at all.

If youre reading this with a kale smoothie before your morning run and wondering if it all makes a difference, co-author Michael Gurven of the University of California - Santa Barbara Anthropology Department said youre doing the right thing but the Tsimane still have medical issues.

While the active lifestyle, lean diet, minimal obesity and smoking are all consistent with having a healthy heart, (the) Tsimane also experience high levels of inflammation and low levels of 'good cholesterol, Gurven said in an email interview. Given this combination of factors consistent with both low and high risk, it is remarkable that the Tsimane have such low levels of coronary artery disease.

Gurven said researchers compared the arterial age between Tsimane and Americans using coronary artery calcium scores, revealing the gap between Tsimane and American hearts.

Curiously, prior work measuring biological age based on immune cell parameters showed that Tsimane were biologically "older" than their age that their immune systems are not up to par, Gurven said. This is fascinating because it shows that different biological systems may age at different rates and indeed, the majority of older adult deaths are due to infectious disease, and rarely (if at all) from coronary artery disease.

There are 16,000 Tsimane living in 95 communities, with between 30 to 500 in each village. The population is mainly children. Tsimane women average about nine children each.

One thing I think a lot of people get confused is that theres this idea that life was nasty, brutish and short, and with life expectancies in the 40s and 50s, people were going to die before they got heart disease anyway, Trumble said.

Theres a big problem with that, however: the way life expectancies are calculated. Life expectancy at birth in a hunter-gatherer population is in the 30- to 40-year range, because of high infant mortality.

For the average Tsimane who makes it to age 15, the modal age of death is 70, Trumble said. Theyre living just as long as we are, but their rates of heart disease are far, far lower.

The study was published Friday in The Lancet.

Top photo: Tsimane man crossing the Maniqui River. Photo by Ben Trumble.

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Despite meat-heavy diet, indigenous tribe has world's healthiest hearts but why? - Arizona State University

Theres a lot of buzz in Washington about reducing the size of the federal workforce. The release of the Trump administrations first budget gave us a better idea of the political agenda for those cuts, and many valid and popular government programs could be at risk.

Ive been reading a new book that tells a different story: A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression focuses on the years following the crash of 1929, and how federal involvement in agriculture, welfare and nutrition shaped the nations health.

Authors Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe remind us that there was a time when the federal government had almost no role in the private lives of its citizens. Although there were cycles of boom and bust in the economy, individuals expected little or no help from Washington, and Washington had little or no interest in helping individuals.

The unexpected depression of food prices in the 1920s, which devastated the farm economy, seemed to have little impact on the folks who lived in cities, where urban prosperity cushioned professionals, office workers and most factory laborers from hardship. The Roaring Twenties left the farmer behind.

And the Depression only made it worse. President Hoovers platitudes about hard work were at odds with long breadlines, reports of malnutrition by social workers and school employees, and headlines about crops being left to rot in the fields because it was too expensive to harvest them.

The Red Cross became the chief distributor of welfare, mostly in the form of grains, milk and other staples, but their efforts were limited and inadequate. In New York, Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt paved the way for more centralized efforts to feed and clothe the people. Led by his welfare chief Harry Hopkins, a social worker, the push for a national effort came with the 1932 presidential election. FDR took over the White House from the hapless Hoover, and Hopkins went to Washington to implement the National Recovery Act.

Private welfare, always a somewhat stingy and unreliable form of aid, was replaced by national support for the needy, and every conceivable program promoted hard work as a condition for receiving support. With unemployment rising to 25 percent or more, the alternative to welfare would have no doubt triggered revolutions like those that had swept the Communists to power in Russia and the Nazis in Germany.

With the aid came the power to recommend what people ate. Home economists were held in high esteem, putting many people to work who had training in the scientific study of food. Many believe that improvements in diet prepared American youth to fight and win World War II.

Eleanor Roosevelt became the nations advocate and role model, adapting the White Houses menus to put on the presidents platethe same simple, cheap and often bland food that his people were eating. Privately, FDR didnt think much of it. He came to detest the housekeeper, one Mrs. Nesbitt, who watered down his favorite stew and put meatloaf on the table rather than fresh game.

The shift in diet changed America in more ways than that. Malnutrition decreased. Prior to the 1930s, farmers and factory workers focused on intake of calories. Around the turn of the 20th century, most American adult males ate at least 4,000 calories a day to retain energy for their labors. Today, most adults should eat fewerthan 3,000. The popularityof fast food and the additives that expand its production have resulted in a national crisis of obesity.

How the wave of Trump-era cuts could affect our daily lives is still unclear. But A Square Meal reminds us of the value of some federal leadership in the field of public health.

Keith Runyon is a longtime Louisville journalist and former editorial page editor for The Courier-Journal. His commentaries run every Friday on 89.3 WFPL and wfpl.org.

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Commentary: How Government Intervention Changed American Diets - 89.3 WFPL