–Mao Zedong (Mount Liupan)
Over the last few years I have heard and read a lot of people who insist that exercise is dependent upon carbohydrates to some degree or another. Some of them will assert that this is the case for just about any exercise other than taking a leisurely stroll, such as these guys at the bodybuilders.com website:
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are many confusing things in the world today. Just scroll through the headlines.
I know I’m confused. For example, I’m confused about why anyone cares if Alec Baldwin yelled at someone again? And I’m really perplexed about why anyone with the sense God gave a squirrel–celebrity or not–would take a picture of themselves naked and then put it into a “cloud” of digital information that is out of their own control. And why are people confused that nations who have been enemies for all of their existence are shooting at and invading one another? And those are just the first three questions that popped into my head after scanning this morning’s headlines.
Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
― Clive James
I would like to explain to you today the results of my personal test of the Resistant Starch Craze. I wrote about this starch in this post, which also contains links to both pro- and con- arguments about the stuff. I’ll very briefly summarize here. The craze is largely in the Paleo world, and what everyone is saying is that resistant starch is starch that doesn’t get digested; thus will not spike your blood sugar; is found in potatoes, rice, green plantains, bananas, and a few other things; and will feed your gut biome and result in better energy, blood sugar control, sleep, digestion, weight loss, etc. I believe the gut biome will also volunteer to babysit your children if you feed it enough. I also believe doctors have known about this for ages, and call it indigestible starch.
Worldly riches are like nuts; many a tooth is broke in cracking them, but never is the stomach filled with eating them.
–Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
If you putter around the low carb world for very long, you’ll see that we have a strange relationship to nuts. On the one hand, you’ve got people using pounds of nut flours every day in their cake-that-aren’t-cakes recipes. On the other hand, you’ve got spear-throwing Paleo types talking about them like they’re almost as bad for you as grain. So what’s the truth?
Well, if you think I can tell you, you’re nuts.
Some of you may remember a previous post, where I directed you to the website of Sam Feltham. Mr. Feltham conducted a little personal experiment whereby he over-ate an incredible number of calories worth of fat for twenty-one days straight. He did not eat carbohydrates, and he ate sufficient, but not excessive, protein. He changed nothing else about his lifestyle for those twenty-one days.
By “overeat” I mean that he consumed more than 5,700 calories a day.
The Gospel According to Nutritionist Fatphobes says that he should have put on more than 16 pounds. What actually happened is that his mean weight on day 21 (he weighed morning and evening and averaged the two, to try and get around the up-to-5 pound daily weight shift that everybody sees) was 2.8 pounds higher than on day 1. Not only that, but his waist shrunk by 1.18 inches.
Usually, jet lag is not this big of an issue for me. I’m not sure why I’m so disoriented this time. It could be due to the amount of chocolate and french fries I’ve eaten in the last two and a half weeks.
–April Winchell
I’m not sure who April Winchell is. Some kind of actress. But she’s right on the money here. Sugar and starch will get you every time.
For any readers who have not traveled, or who haven’t traveled by plane to far away places, allow me to explain the phenomenon that is jet lag.
Ask Me How It Happened 