Category: health

Don’t Give Up The Fat!

The rate of cardiovascular disease suffered by both rural and urban Chinese males is almost indistinguishable from the rate experienced by American males, while the rates…for both rural and urban Chinese women is significantly higher than those suffered by American females….The notion that the Chinese don’t have disease of the heart…is what we like to call a vampire myth–it simply refuses to die.

–Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades

They go on to explain that part of the issue leading to confusion is that heart disease normally manifests as stroke in the Chinese, but as heart attack in Americans. A city-dwelling Chinese man only has half the heart attack risk of his American comrade–but six times the stroke risk. The underlying cause is exactly the same: coronary heart disease.

Continue reading Don’t Give Up The Fat!

The Hamster Wheel–Specifics

When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is disease.

– V.L. Allinear

In the last post we talked about the book Body by Science. If you read it or are thinking about doing so, you might be left with one last question:

“That all sounds great, and in an ideal world, sure, I’d like to have plenty of protective muscle. But come on. I have this thing. It’s called a life. I have a/three job/s, kids, church, PTA. EVERYONE knows that exercising is good, but in the real world there’s just no time.”

I had that same thought early on in the book. I mean, “everyone knows” that to gain much of any muscle you’re going to have to spend time at the gym and spend money and really,…good grief. I’ve got more urgent things I need to do.

But that’s not at all necessary.
Continue reading The Hamster Wheel–Specifics

The Hamster Wheel

It is not by muscle, speed or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.

–Cicero

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the book Body by Science. When I first started eating differently, I followed the advice I still believe: eat right first. Then you’ll feel better and start losing some weight, and then you’ll have interest and energy for exercise. Exercise is not your primary or first weight loss tool.

But now I do feel good, and this book was recommended by several people whose opinions in these areas I respect. I read it and started putting into practice. I haven’t discussed it till now because I wanted to give you some results to go with it. Those will come in Post #2.

Continue reading The Hamster Wheel

Stuff and Bother

It was the year my Aunt Clara went to visit her cousin. Now, her cousin was not only gifted on the glockenspiel, but being a screech owl, also sang soprano in the London Opera.

–Owl

The long silence has been due to illness. I got the flu and it was just too much to blog while living the rest of life. The main problem was not the illness per se, but all the pollution that greatly exacerbates the breathing difficulties of any illness that affects the respiratory system.

However other than having difficulty breathing, which is related to air quality, this illness was not nearly as bad as it used to be.

This is one of the benefits of living a life without refined flours and sugars: better health in general. You don’t get as sick as often, and generally when you do get sick it isn’t as debilitating or as lengthy. We all understand here that I’m talking about common illnesses, right? I can’t say what will happen if you go get malaria, tuberculosis, or polio.
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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly III

Just because something isn’t a lie does not mean that it isn’t deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.

― Criss Jami

We’ve looked at the good. We’ve looked at some bad. Now…the ugly.

  • Eating protein will kill you in middle age, and then somehow–magic, I think we can assume–becomes protective after age 65. Variations of this article came out all over the news about two weeks ago. It was such a headline that I had several people ask me about it. It took me about a week to get the time to find the actual study, and then more time to get around to writing about it. But here we go.

As you probably already guessed from the idiotic statement that the same protein that will kill you if you’re 64 will suddenly protect you from death once you turn 65, this is a load of baloney. This contention alone ought to be enough to put every reasonable person on alert. Continue reading The Good, The Bad and The Ugly III

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly I

There’s a patch of old snow in a corner
That I should have guessed
Was a blow-away paper the rain
Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if
Small print overspread it,
The news of a day I’ve forgotten —
If I ever read it.
–Robert Frost

There’s good, bad and ugly in the news. How about the roundup? We’ll start with the good.

The Good:

Some One Had Blunder’d

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

–Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Before we begin, calm yourself by watching the video delicious sardines. I took it at an aquarium in Japan. It’s called the Sardine Tornado, which would be a great thing for Aquaman to be able to create, if you ask me.

Continue reading Some One Had Blunder’d

Ours is But To Do Or Die

“Poirot,” I said. “I have been thinking.”
“An admirable exercise my friend. Continue it.”

–Agatha Christie

In the last post we asked the question: WHY? Why so much sugar in a recipe when it wasn’t necessary for taste or texture?

Today I have a new “why.” It comes from this article, a form of which has come out on every major American news agency going. If you don’t care to read it all, I’ll summarize: you should now brush your baby’s teeth with fluoride toothpaste so he won’t get a cavity before he’s five, like most kids do.

WHY? Why should I give fluoride to a small child? Why has the cavity situation grown so dire that kids are developing them that young? I want to give the American Dental Association the benefit of the doubt. I can’t imagine it’s fun for a dentist to treat a five-year-old’s cavity, so I understand the dentists’ perspective here.

Continue reading Ours is But To Do Or Die

Final Dairy Clarity

The one who burns his mouth for drinking milk too hot eats even yogurt carefully. 

–Turkish Proverb

Let’s talk about dairy one last time. We’ve considered whether we need to abandon it entirely solely because we imagine our supposed Paleolithic ancestors didn’t eat it. We’ve looked at whether it is going to give us cancer (no) or save us from cancer (no). We talked about its insulinogenic quality.

If you’ve come through all that you’ve probably figured out where I land on this issue: in general, dairy is perfectly fine in moderate amounts if you personally tolerate it and don’t show an insulin addictive response to it. (If you’re just reading this or aren’t sure what I mean I’ll give you a hint: if you ate half the block of cheddar at one sitting without even realizing what you were doing, you probably have a disproportionately high insulin response to this low-sugar food. Sorry.)
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Dairy, Dairy, Quite Contrary

Eat butter first, and eat it last, and live till a hundred years be past.

–Old Dutch proverb

What to do about dairy? Some people love it, some people hate it, everyone wants it on pizza. Vegans won’t touch it while Paleos claim it’s too new a food to safely eat. Some are sure it makes them gain weight or at least feel temporarily bloated, yet many Europeans consume it like candy and seem to enjoy both good health and healthy body weights regardless. Some people groups, such as the Chinese or Vietnamese, have rampant lactose intolerance; yet some societies–like the Mongols, Tibetans, and Masaai–have or do subsist largely on dairy and are strong and healthy. Some scientists claim that it will give you cancer and cause gut leakage problems, while others swear that it’s the best and healthiest way to get your Vit D and calcium, and may even protect your from cancer. One study tells you it will spike your insulin and derange your metabolism; another will tell you that it protects from diabetes.
Continue reading Dairy, Dairy, Quite Contrary